Max Verstappen reveals details about Franz Hermann lap record

Under the pseudonym Franz Hermann, Max Verstappen turned heads earlier this year. Out of the blue, the four-time F1 champion rocked up at the iconic Nordschleife in a GT3 car, and promptly recorded an unofficial lap record. Verstappen has now revealed more details as to how that lap came about in a conversation with presenter Chris Harris. "The team, Emil Frey, which owns our GT3 car, said I could drive under an alias," Verstappen laughed. "They asked if I had any ideas. "Then I thought, 'Let's make it extremely German.' Franz Hermann sounded good to me." Verstappen went on to remark that GT3s is "just one of my passions", adding, "I love racing. I also have a racing team now, giving one of my sim drivers [Chris Lulham] a chance in the real world." But then what were Verstappen's lap times? "My first lap was a 7:56 on the VLN configuration (which combines the Nordschleife and the Nürburgring F1 circuit). A few weeks earlier, the pole position was a 7:51, so that was good. "We drove with a full tank, of course, because we wanted to do more laps in a row. The second lap was a 7:54, and then I made a pit stop to let my sim driver do a few laps." On his second outing, Verstappen said: "Then I went out again with a new set of tyres, and I drove a good 7:48. "The car was very nice to drive. I felt comfortable because I had already driven thousands of laps in the simulator." With that lap, Verstappen would have broken the VLN/NLS GT3 record held by Christian Krognes, who recorded a 7:49.578s.