Helmut Marko stunned after Max Verstappen test: 'Track record broken by two seconds'

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has claimed Max Verstappen informed him he shattered the lap record at the Nurburgring during his surprise test outing last week.

Verstappen appeared at the German track under the pseudonym Franz Hermann and drove a handful of laps around the famous Nordschleife section of the track.

No official data has been released, however track expert Misha Charoudin claimed the four-time F1 champion produced a lap record for the GT3 class.

Marko has seemingly confirmed the rumour following communication with Verstappen himself.

“GT racing is his great love and he has his own team,” Marko told Kronen Zeitung.

“He told me that he beat a record by two seconds after just three laps, knew every one of his lap times and everything about the suspension. 

“He was almost more into the details than he was with his Formula 1 car.”

Verstappen's only previous experience at the Nurburgring came through sim racing, an area the Red Bull driver also holds a strong passion for.

Marko expects Verstappen to continue his investment in sim racing and use it as a platform to boost racing careers due to its low costs in comparison to professional karting.

“He runs a sim racing team and now he wants to put one of his best drivers in a GT car,” Marko added. 

“That's active promotion of young talent. Because nowadays a whole season in karting costs a quarter of a million euros. 

“And what does the equipment for sim racing cost? Maybe €30,000 to €50,000 in total. 

“Max also develops software for the simulators used by Formula 2 and Formula 3 teams.”