Verstappen forbidden from Nordschleife F1 run by Marko 

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will join Daniel Ricciardo in carrying out demonstration runs in old Red Bull F1 machinery at a special event at the world-renowned circuit in September.

Vettel was announced as having signed up to drive his 2011 title-winning RB7 earlier this week, while Red Bull reserve Ricciardo will run in an RB8 from 2012. 

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen revealed he was denied the same opportunity. 

“I wanted to do it but I was not allowed from Helmut,” Verstappen said. “He knew I’d try go to the limit. I would have loved to do it.

“I heard this thing was coming up and Helmut, because I think we were sitting at a table when it came up, he was like ‘no, no, no you’re not doing that’.”

Asked why he didn’t use his sway within Red Bull to persuade his bosses to change their minds, Verstappen answered: “I don’t want to start unnecessary issues. I found it quite funny.”

Verstappen played down the risks of driving around ‘The Green Hell’ and pointed out that modern F1 circuits still pose dangers. 

“It’s also risky to drive here [in Montreal],” the two-time world champion said. 

“It depends how you hit a barrier. But that’s normally not the plan of course, hopefully one day I’ll get to do it.”

He added: “Ideally, that would have been amazing in an F1 car. But if it's not allowed in an F1 car, then maybe one day in a GT3 car."