The F1 world champion's successful debut in an under-appreciated class of racing is marketing gold
Over the weekend Max Verstappen, in a high-profile GT3-class debut, won the ninth round of the Nürburgring Endurance Championship with seeming ease and social media went batshit. Of course it did. Most posts were well-informed, with sensible and deserved tone of adulation for an impressive feat.
What I will also say, though, is that the number of people that were unquestioningly cooing over the Formula 1 world champion's ability to outbrake an AT3-class MkVII Golf while at the wheel of a cutting-edge Ferrari 296 GT3 was confounding. Do these people live in a parallel reality where this is possible only because of Verstappen's god-given talent? Frighteningly, they might. Or is it just wilful ignorance? Either way, it shows how personality-driven sport can be these days. Don't worry about the facts. But I’m not here to complain. I want to celebrate. This is a fortuitous and unforeseen development for a class of racing I love watching – one that gets shaded by fruitier sports-prototype racers in the hypercar class and F1 itself. By showing up in a GT3 car and putting on an exhibition in something so different to his normal Red Bull RB21 , Verstappen has drawn more eyeballs to the category than its promoters could have achieved in 100 years. Liberty Media says F1 generates around 1.6bn 'cumulative' views annually. If GT3 can collect even a tiny fraction of that, it'll be very good news for the sport, helping major carmakers justify their continued involvement during a turbulent time in the industry, when having a homologation base in the road-car line-up can't be taken for granted. Hopefully a wider audience will now appreciate how fabulous GT3 cars are to watch – not least because, thanks to those strict homologation rules, they are the most relatable cars in serious racing both from a visual and a dynamic perspective. Strip the livery off two F1 cars and the average fan would struggle to tell them apart. In GT3 you know if an Aston Vantage, Porsche 911, BMW M4 or Ford Mustang is bearing down on you first the noise and headlights, well before the car in fully into view. They're also hardy enough to tussle like touring cars but have a good degree of exoticism about them. The diversity really is something very special, and an emphatic endorsement from the fastest man in motorsport is priceless. So thank you, Max. If you could properly explain Balance of Performance to Netflix before they turn it into a cliffhanger subplot, we’d really be in business. As for the way Verstappen lives his life as a racing driver, you've just got to love it, haven't you? He now joins a rarified collection of top F1 drivers who had to scratch another motorsport itch in a fit of pure racing passion. Kimi Räikkönen and Robert Kubica have both dabbled in rally and Fernando Alonso raced at Indy. However, what makes Verstappen’s appearance in GT3 racing so laudable is that it happened mid-season. Only the weekend before, he brilliantly won the Azerbaijan grand prix. Then to the Green Hell. Result? Same. Next weekend, Singapore. Verstappen is treading in the footsteps of F1 drivers of yore, who would show up in different disciplines to supplement their income or just for the love of racing and variety. Mario Andretti won the Indy 500 and won in NASCAR, as well as driving Porsche 956s at Le Mans. Graham Hill, John Surtees and Jim Clark were notable exponents from the golden age. Like watching Prince rock seemingly any instrument handed to him, witnessing a truly great F1 driver turn their hand to another form of racing offers an exciting new angle for appreciation. I wish more drivers did it. I wish Lewis had an appetite for Le Mans. And that Lando occasionally popped up in Super GT in a Nismo GT500 for the hell of it. Sunday’s drive at the Nürburgring was a typically assured display from Verstappen and his ice-cool British teammate Chris Lulham in their Emil Frey Racing Ferrari. Verstappen aggressively took the lead on the first lap, from third on the grid, and the pair then drove almost flawlessly for the next 424 miles. During a post-race interview, Nürburgring legend Frank Stippler was in awe, which tells you all you need to know. More is to come, though. We should recognise that the bulk of the world’s gun GT3 drivers have been in Japan this weekend, racing at the 6 hours of Fuji in the WEC. A stiffer test of Verstappen’s mettle in the category will therefore have to wait until next year, and maybe we’ll even see him in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. That is possibly the maddest race in top-level motorsport, and the prospect of having a multiple F1 champ and motorsport reainssance man in the mix, trading paint and carbonfibre with GT3’s brightest talents? Absolutely tantalising.
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