Personal Reason Spotted Behind Max Verstappen Testing Ferrari’s DTM Car for GT3 Team in Portugal

Sabyasachi Biswas | 07/01/2024
Personal Reason Spotted Behind Max Verstappen Testing Ferrari’s DTM Car for GT3 Team in Portugal

With F1 in the midst of the winter break, Max Verstappen has not forgotten to use this time for his own benefit. The Dutchman used this opportunity to test Ferrari’s DTM car in Portugal, and also help out his family friend Thierry Vermeulen of Emil Frey Racing, whom he supports through Verstappen.com Racing.

Vermeulen races for Emil Frey and is the son of Raymond Vermeulen, the manager of Verstappen. He gets his driving coaching from Jos Verstappen and there’s no doubt about how close he is to the three-time world champion. He helps Vermeulen a lot with different aspects of his racing career. This was a huge reason behind Verstappen traveling to Portugal and test out the DTM.

As Verstappen reached Portimão to test for Emil Frey, Lorenz Frey-Hilti spoke said to Motorsport Total (as quoted by Motorsport), “The aim of the test with Max was to support Thierry and also to improve our performance with his feedback.”

Verstappen drove the Ferrari 296 car that Emil Frey will use after shifting from Lamborghini to Ferrari this year. Interestingly, this wasn’t the first time Verstappen chose to drive a rival car during this winter break. He did drive a Ferrari, but when it came to Mercedes, he wasn’t allowed to do so.

Mercedes ride denied for Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen witnessed an unexpected twist during the winter break when he was in Portugal. The Dutchman arrived in Algarve, a region in Portugal where he tried to rent a Mercedes AMG GT from a rental company named Sixt.

However, he was denied as the rule of the company says one has to be at least 30 years old to rent a premium car of that sort. Therefore, Verstappen, being 26 years old could not get his hands on the desired vehicle, as reported by De Telegraaf.

After realizing that they denied the best driver in the world a car, the company issued an apology. They insisted they were only following their policy due to insurance rules. With that, they also offered the Dutchman another premium car to rent under special circumstances.

Now, however, Max Verstappen is in Brazil now to attend Nelson Piquet Jr.’s wedding and it is expected that he will soon be back in Milton Keynes to prepare for the upcoming 2024 F1 season and defend his crown.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Jos Verstappen Max Verstappen Raymond Vermuelen Thierry Vermuelen

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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