Max Verstappen shuts down rival’s “false” car advantage accusation
Max Verstappen has hit back at "false" claims made by a rival following his recent GT3 test.
F1 world champion Max Verstappen has accused a rival of making “false” claims about his secret GT3 test at Nurburgring’s Nordschleife.
The Red Bull driver piloted Emil Frey Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3 car around the legendary venue under the pseudonym of “Franz Hermann” during an official Nurburgring Endurance Series test.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen confirmed rumours that he had smashed the NLS GT3 lap record during the outing.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko claimed Verstappen beat the lap record by two seconds.
Mercedes GT driver Maro Engel claimed Verstappen’s car was not the same specification as those used by other drivers taking part in the test.
“[A] few facts to Franz Hermann GT3 Nordschleife test,” Engel wrote in a social media post. “[The] car was run in DTM spec BoP (less weight, more power, lower ride height than NLS BoP).
“Lap time: 7’48. Still impressive for a first visit to the green hell. Would be cool to see Franz compete!”
In a rare reply on social media, Verstappen denied the claim made by Engel.
“False,” Verstappen responded. “Don’t spread things when you don’t know how the car was set-up and our engine settings. Why would I join a NLS track day with the wrong BoP.”
Why did Verstappen enter under fake name?
The four-time world champion revealed further details about the test and explained why he used a fake name.
"They asked me for a fake name, so I said let's make it as German as we can,” Verstappen said.
"Then you're not on the entry list. Otherwise people woke up at 8am knowing that my name is on it; I knew that once I was there that people would realise. It's normal. But at least I wasn't on the entry list. So at least at 8, 9am it was pretty calm.
"I was [faster than the NLS GT3 lap record], but I'm not there to show that I can break a lap record or whatever record. I was just having fun and learning the track together with the team.
"With Emil Frey as well, they weren't there before, so for them also the dream is to do 24 hours there.
“We just had a good time getting up to speed; we were lucky with the conditions as well. It was really nice and sunny. So that's great if you can have that.
"I would like to do that in the future. That's why I'm doing all these things to prepare a bit, get a bit of experience. So, you don't need to do that in the future.
"It's my passion. I'm running this year also with the GT3 team, I want to gather also more information for myself. And at the end of the day, it's my private time."
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