Back and forth on social media
Max Verstappen used the break week between Miami and Imola to participate anonymously in a collective test day of the NLS at the legendary Nordschleife, the full Nürburgring circuit.
Verstappen was on track with ‘his’ team, driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 competing in the GT World Challenge (besides Thierry Vermeulen’s Ferrari, this year the Dutch team also runs an Aston Martin Vantage driven by Chris Lulham, a RedLine sim racer).
The four-time world champion’s lap times were more than interesting and sparked debate on social media even among Ring and GT3 ‘professionals.’ Maro Engel, a 1985-born Mercedes driver with an excellent GT3 record, wanted to ‘put Verstappen’s performance in context’ on X (formerly Twitter), saying: “Some facts about Franz Hermann’s NLS test at the Ring with a GT3. The car was set up to DTM specs, so it was lighter, had more power, and could run lower compared to the NLS BOP. Lap time was 7 minutes 48 seconds. Still impressive for a first time in the Green Hell. Would be great to see Franz racing.”
Seems like paddock chat was incorrect then. Your clearly in a better position to tell us what you ran. Thnx and same to you 👍🏻 https://t.co/oKQPAJTiRq
— Maro Engel (@MaroEngel) May 16, 2025
Verstappen’s response came quickly: “False. Don’t spread rumors when you don’t know what setup we had or our engine mapping. Why would I participate in an NLS test with the wrong BOP? Good luck for tomorrow.” Engel replied: “Then it’s clear the paddock rumors were wrong. You’re obviously in a better position than us to say what settings you ran. Thanks, same to you.” Most likely Verstappen has no real interest in defending his ‘reputation,’ but he wanted to reply because the test is effectively a key session, a first building block of the Verstappen Racing project at the Ring whether or not Verstappen personally races. Indeed, even if he doesn’t compete in the GT World Challenge, he has already contributed to improving the car for the main drivers. Below are the tweets from Engel and Max Verstappen.
Maro Engel’s tweet also drew a reaction from David Perel, another closed-wheel specialist who races with a Ferrari (so he was on ‘equal footing’ with Verstappen’s model). Perel ‘agrees’ with Engel but also has no doubt Verstappen could be competitive if he decided to seriously commit to GT3: “I was able to follow ‘Franz’ for a few laps. He could be really strong if he took it seriously. But he had a lot of power and top speed. Anyway, it was great to share the track with a legend, even if it was brief.”
I got to follow Franz for a few laps. He could be a great driver if he takes it seriously. But also… he had plenty of power and top speed 😬
Still, great to share the track with such a legend, even if it was brief. https://t.co/ymkZsqajoR
— David Perel (@davidperel) May 16, 2025
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