Max Verstappen stuns at Fuji with incredible SuperGT pace in torrential rain. Max Verstappen’s Fuji SuperGT test shows why he is in a league of his own.

Verstappen in the Fuji downpour with a Nissan SuperGT: the brutal comparison with a Japanese rival

Tell us if there is a better possible way to prepare for the Nürburgring 24 Hours scheduled for May 16-17.

Max Verstappen at Fuji: Red Bull releases the official footage

Images secretly captured some time ago by a handful of spectators who had managed to get close to the Fuji Speedway circuit had already revealed the news of Max Verstappen testing a Japanese SuperGT car. Now, however, official video footage and photographs released directly by Red Bull have also arrived — and not only that. The lap times from the rather brutal comparison with SuperGT specialist Atsushi Miyake have also emerged, carried out under the torrential rain that hit the historic Fuji circuit near the city of Oyama, around 80 kilometers from Tokyo, on March 25.

The impossible challenge for Atsushi Miyake

The driver chosen to challenge the four-time Formula 1 world champion was certainly no amateur. Atsushi Miyake made his SuperGT debut in 2020 in the GT300 category before stepping up to the premier GT500 class in 2024, eventually finishing third in the overall championship standings by the end of the season. He had also previously won at Fuji Speedway.

So, after only one warm-up lap each on a circuit where Max Verstappen had never raced a race car — and certainly never competed in Formula 1, considering the last F1 event at Fuji dates back to 2008 — the challenge began under extremely difficult weather conditions.

The unfortunate Japanese driver first recorded a 1:45.453 before improving to a 1:44.075 on his second flying lap.

At that point, as shown in the video recently published on Red Bull’s official social media channels, it was Max Verstappen’s turn to climb into the Nissan SuperGT car used for the comparison. On his very first flying lap, the Dutchman immediately came within just one tenth of Miyake’s best time. Then, on only the second GT500 lap of his entire life around the flooded Fuji circuit, Verstappen completely took off.

The reigning Formula 1 world champion stopped the clock at 1:42.290 — almost two full seconds faster than the best effort produced by the Japanese category specialist.

At the very least, Atsushi Miyake deserves enormous credit for the sporting spirit he showed in accepting such a one-sided challenge against a superstar who has already demonstrated he can become a benchmark in virtually every type of car, on every type of circuit and in all weather conditions imaginable.

The drivers react

“It was becoming a little difficult to push at the limit,” explained Max Verstappen. “But after the first lap I told myself, ‘I can do better than that,’ and then I managed a 1:42 lap. After that it really started raining heavily and some of those corners became quite tricky.

“I was getting more and more confidence with the car, learning how to manage the throttle and braking. The steering feels very different and you really need to feel the grip from the tyres. You cannot go flat-out across the streams of water crossing the track because the corners simply do not allow it. But it was an amazing experience, and hopefully next time it will be dry”.

Atsushi Miyake was equally impressed by the experience: “He is a Formula 1 world champion and he really surprised me, but I was also curious to see how different his driving style would be if we shared the same car. Unfortunately it was raining this time, but I could still see with my own eyes just how talented he is. I am thrilled to have shared this experience with him and I enjoyed it enormously”.

For Max Verstappen, this certainly represents the perfect preparation ahead of his future — and now imminent — experience at the Nürburgring Nordschleife 24 Hours aboard the Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by the team carrying his own name.

Max Verstappen’s recent performance at Fuji Speedway therefore shows his adaptability across different racing disciplines. By outperforming a GT500 specialist by nearly two seconds in a car and on a track he had never experienced before, Verstappen continues to blur the lines between specialized talent and pure racing instinct. As he prepares for the grueling 24 Hours of Nurburgring, this display of wet-weather mastery in a high-downforce GT car suggests that his transition to endurance racing will be just as dominant as his current reign in Formula 1.