Was Verstappen's Nordschleife test too risky?

May 14 (GMM) Red Bull’s bosses may be unhappy that Max Verstappen put in a reportedly record-breaking effort around the fabled Nordschleife layout at the Nurburgring last week.

That’s the view of former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, after the quadruple world champion took part in a test session of the Nurburgring Langstrecken series (NLS) in a Ferrari 296 GT3 – with the pseudonym ‘Franz Hermann’ on the car.

Onboard footage from other cars showed the Verstappen.com Racing-branded car overtaking at high speed, amid reports the 27-year-old went on to set a best laptime of 7.47 – slightly faster than the official GT3 lap record.

Schumacher, however, thinks Verstappen went even faster than that.

“I think he did a 7.35,” the German told Sky Deutschland. “That’s a really top time. It’s really outstanding.”

Another former F1 driver, Timo Glock, added: “What I heard is that the first or second lap was already at the top level. He will have spent a lot of time in the simulator, but it proves his talent once again and how well he can adjust to a car.”

It’s reported that Verstappen could take a sabbatical next year to observe F1’s all-new regulations and perhaps even race in GT3 categories – with the Nordschleife outing working him towards the mandatory specific license.

“I can’t imagine that,” Schumacher said.

“He has his own GT3 team already, but he also still has too much fun in Formula 1 to just leave. Look at how quickly he flew to Miami even though he had just become a father.

“That proves that he still likes doing it.”

What is clear, Schumacher thinks, is that Verstappen’s F1 bosses will not be particularly happy about the Nordschleife outing. “Certainly if I was Max’s team boss, I wouldn’t find it that beneficial to drive on the Nordschleife.

“I know many people don’t like to hear it, but I find it incredibly dangerous, especially when you’re driving at such a high speed. But of course we know that Max can drive better than most others.”