30/07/2025 20:00
Under the pseudonym Franz Hermann, Max Verstappen turned heads
earlier this year. Out of the blue, the four-time F1 champion
rocked up at the iconic Nordschleife in a GT3 car, and promptly
recorded an unofficial lap record. Verstappen has now revealed more
details as to how that lap came about in a conversation with
presenter Chris Harris. "The team, Emil Frey, which owns our GT3
car, said I could drive under an alias," Verstappen laughed. "They
asked if I had any ideas. "Then I thought, 'Let's make it extremely
German.' Franz Hermann sounded good to me." Verstappen went on to
remark that GT3s is "just one of my passions", adding, "I love
racing. I also have a racing team now, giving one of my sim drivers
[Chris Lulham] a chance in the real world." But then what were
Verstappen's lap times? "My first lap was a 7:56 on the VLN
configuration (which combines the Nordschleife and the Nürburgring
F1 circuit). A few weeks earlier, the pole position was a 7:51, so
that was good. "We drove with a full tank, of course, because we
wanted to do more laps in a row. The second lap was a 7:54, and
then I made a pit stop to let my sim driver do a few laps." On his
second outing, Verstappen said: "Then I went out again with a new
set of tyres, and I drove a good 7:48. "The car was very nice to
drive. I felt comfortable because I had already driven thousands of
laps in the simulator." With that lap, Verstappen would have broken
the VLN/NLS GT3 record held by Christian Krognes, who recorded a
7:49.578s.
