Bruised Ego: Drivers Doubtful Of Max Verstappen’s Nurburgring Record Lap
Things have gotten a little spicy since Max Verstappen snuck onto the Nurburgring under an assumed name “Franz Hermann” to drive a Ferrari 293 GT3. The Formula One driver was reportedly able to lap the Green Hell so quickly, he set a new record for the GT3 category. But some motorsports drivers have questioned if that record run is legitimate or not.
A wiener race is coming this weekend.
Back in the day, when someone did something like this and other drivers thought it was a scam, they would either just whisper about it in the paddock or they would say so to the other guy’s face.
These days, they take to social media and trash the other driver to thousands, if not millions of people online. That’s been done repeatedly to Verstappen, most notably by Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel.
Taking to his X account, Engel took it upon himself to announce some “facts” about Verstappen’s record lap. He accused the F1 driver of using a different spec that gave his car less weight, more power, and a lower ride height than what would’ve been allowed in an official Nurburgring Endurance Race Series contest.
How did Engel know these “facts”? Apparently from “paddock chat” from what he indicated once Verstappen called him out for the “false” accusations. It’s amazing how quickly the man backed down once confronted by Max on X.
Imagine had this whole exchange happened in person, what would Engel have said? Would he maybe have toned it all down? This goes back to people lamenting that these days not enough guys get punched in the face because they hide behind their phone on social media.
While one could just blow criticism like this off, Motorsport says Verstappen admitted Engel’s accusations offended him, even though usually sharp comments like that don’t have any effect. That’s why he replied to Engel’s tweet.
“I know him,” said Verstappen. “So yeah, then I think, ‘It’s probably better not to say anything.’ But I happened to come across it in my feed. Normally you don’t see that, but I’ve met him a few times in Monaco. I have a lot of respect for everyone in the GT3 world, and then I think, ‘This is just unnecessary.’”
Considering Verstappen went on to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, he’s probably going to be okay.
Image via Max33Verstappen/X
