Not long ago, the motorsport community was taken by surprise as an unfamiliar driver, Franz Hermann, set a blistering track record on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, widely considered the world’s most challenging circuit.<\/p>\n
The intrigue surrounding this mysterious German driver was palpable. Hermann, as it turned out, was none other than Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n
The four-time F1 drivers’ champion was testing his skills in a Ferrari 296 GT3. Despite initial intentions to cloak his identity, the secret didn’t survive long. Racing fans were quick to uncover the truth behind the alias.<\/p>\n
Verstappen’s venture into the GT racing territory signals an imminent debut in the GT class, scheduled for this weekend.<\/p>\n
However, this anticipated new chapter also heralds the probable end of Franz Hermann.<\/p>\n
As Verstappen advances towards obtaining a Grade A Permit for the Nordschleife, the conditions necessitate him racing under his real name.<\/p>\n
This requirement means that should he decide to register for any official racing events, he will have to compete as himself, thereby retiring Franz Hermann from the racing scene.<\/p>\n
Though the alias of Franz Hermann was only a fleeting part of Verstappen’s storied career, it left an indelible mark on his fans. The mystique of Hermann will undoubtedly endure.<\/p>\n
However, as Verstappen steps onto the official paths of GT racing, the prospects for anonymity vanish. His well-known status renders any future attempts at undercover racing nearly impossible.<\/p>\n
Yet, should Verstappen decide one day to explore another racing class, the story of Franz Hermann might experience an unexpected revival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not long ago, the motorsport community was taken by surprise as an unfamiliar driver, Franz Hermann, set a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,827,817,830,828,831,829,826,813,816,823,825,824,822,85],"class_list":["post-133897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1","tag-f1-calendar","tag-f1-live","tag-f1-results","tag-f1-standings","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motorsport","tag-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}