Max Verstappen leaves astonished engineers all saying the same thing

There are no questions about Max Verstappen's abilities behind the wheel of an F1 car - but a group of engineers couldn't believe it transferred so seamlessly to a different discipline

Max Verstappen had engineers in awe of his pace as he swapped his Formula 1 seat for a different kind of race car.

The Dutchman's exploits in motorsport stretch beyond his three F1 world championships. In 2022, he joined forces with his Red Bull employers to create Verstappen.com Racing.

He helps oversee several projects both in the virtual and real world, including sponsoring his friend Thierry Vermeulen in GT and DTM. Verstappen's support isn't just financial, either.

When his schedule allows, he joins Vermeulen in testing. He did just that last year at Mugello and ended up getting behind the wheel of his Ferrari 296 DTM car to try and prove its maximum potential.

The moment was captured in Viaplay's documentary Off the Beaten Track, now available to watch in the UK. Verstappen was seen putting in green sector after green sector, with one engineer asking: "How do you think he's so good?" An on-watching Vermeulen answered: "Because it's Max. He is insane."

"This guy is from another planet," the engineer exclaimed. Vermeulen also commented: "To see him go directly up to speed... Everyone at one point can put in quite a quick lap, but for him it just comes so quick. Even if it's a new car, he can just drive around the problems and use his talent and his experience to directly be on the pace."

Emil Frey Racing's head of track engineering, Graziano Michelacci, was equally stunned by what he was seeing. "I know what to expect from this kind of guy. In this case, it was something really unexpected," he admitted.

"He was improving the lap time at a level which normally doesn't exist in real life. So you are surprised, even if you expect it. Then you remember it's something to say to your friends when in the future you're in a bar."

Verstappen felt it was mission accomplished as he boosted the morale of the team ahead of their race in Italy. They'd go on to finish the season seventh out of 14 teams, with Vermeulen 16th out of 29 in the drivers' standings.

"When we did the lap time they were like, 'Wow, this car is quick, we made it quick'. So again, it's like a whole boost to the team at the end of the day. They all went to the next race, I think full of confidence that 'yes, now we have a car that we can fight up front with'," Verstappen reflected.

Viaplay UK is available via Prime Video Channels. More info: https://amazon.co.uk/channels/viaplayuk