Max Verstappen underlines driving class: 'Rules are rules and I need to do it'

Max Verstappen caused a stir on several occasions this year with his performances on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, whether under his own name or that of a pseudonym, Franz Hermann.

Even the connoisseurs who experienced those drives up close did not hide their admiration, such as Misha Charoudin, who was the first to report an unofficial track record for F1's four-time drivers' champion.

"Shows up. Drives a track record with a full tank AND traffic. Refuses to enter anything. Leaves.", Charoudin, a renowned internet personality, posted on social media.

Verstappen returned to the Nordschleife soon after to obtain his driver's license to compete in NLS races, or the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, doing so in a Porsche Cayman GT4, which had been downsized in terms of power.

Many were outraged by this, but one man in particular was not, and that was Verstappen himself.

"The coolest thing of all was that he didn't make a big deal out of it," said Charoudin, speaking on the Road to Success podcast. "He didn't say, 'Do you know who I am? I don't need to drive a slow car'

"He actually openly said, 'Rules are rules, and everyone needs to do it', and it was important that he did that, because he got to experience the speed differences between a slow Cayman and a GT3 car when he's being overtaken.

"So when he's driving a GT three car, the next time, he will know that the car ahead of him probably is not seeing him, because simply, when he looked in the mirror, it was not there, and then he went for the corner, and then the car was there.

"So that just shows him how it feels to be in slower traffic, basically, when you're going to be the faster one.

"That's just my opinion, but I think it's important, and it was cool that he said, 'Rules are rules, and I need to do it'."