Max Verstappen used a fake name to secretly test a Ferrari at the Nürburgring

Turns out Max Verstappen really likes racing. Yep, who would’ve thought it? Of course, we already knew about the Dutchman’s obsession with sim racing in his downtime from F1, but now it seems he’s getting into real-life GT3 racing too. Although he does also have a newborn baby, so perhaps he just needed to get out of the house for a few hours.

Still, this wasn’t just any GT3 racing, because Max spent last weekend at the Nürburgring testing a Ferrari 296 GT3 under the pseudonym ‘Franz Hermann’. Given the car was in full Verstappen.com livery (Max’s eponymous racing team) from its exploits in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, it wasn’t exactly the most discreet appearance possible.

And yet, according to DailySportsCar.com, Verstappen’s best lap during the test was timed at 7m 56s. That’s just five seconds off the GT3 pole lap from the first round of this year’s Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, despite Max coming across plenty of traffic. Yeah, he’s fast.

So, is the 27-year-old thinking about an NLS or Nürburgring 24 Hour appearance? Does he want to get into GT3 racing in the near future? Or was he simply making the most of a rare weekend off? Who knows, who cares: it's a pretty darn cool thing to do.