There is not only Formula 1 for Max Verstappen, who is also very busy pursuing other projects including the creation of his own personal team.
The circus World Champion has been working behind the scenes for some time to set up a program that bears his name and the first indications had arrived earlier this season, when Thierry Vermeulen showed up at the start of the DTM and GT World Challenge Europe with a car branded with the Red Bull driver’s logo.
The link between Vermeulen and the Verstappen family is double-stranded, as Thierry’s father follows Max, while Jos Verstappen has the young boy currently wearing the Emil Frey Racing colors in his stable.
Vermeulen races this year in the Swiss team’s Ferrari 296 GT3 sporting the Red Bull logo and Verstappen.com Racing branding on the livery, something that didn’t go unnoticed also due to Max’s presence at the early season tests at Paul Ricard organized for the series by SRO Motorsports Group.
In an exclusive interview with the Dutch magazine “Formule 1” and its website Formule1.nl, the current dominator of F1 explained that this operation serves to aim to understand how the GT world works and to have a dedicated team in the next future.
Thierry Vermeulen, Ferrari 296 GT3, Emil Frey Racing
Photo by: ADAC Motorsport
“This project gives me a lot of energy. At the moment it is still in its infancy. Like Verstappen.com Racing, we sponsor and support various racing activities from people close to me with advice and consultancy.”
“It all started with virtual racing on the simulator of Team Redline and today we are now also active with Thierry Vermeulen in the DTM and GTWC Europe Sprint, as well as with my father in rallies.”
“The ultimate goal is to create our own racing team. We’ll start in the GT3 class and then, at some point, we’ll see if and how things turn out.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
2023 will therefore serve to lay the foundations and gain experience, while for 2024 the goal is to start working to set up the team.
“When I do something, I want to do it well. I want to win, even with this. It’s about creating a stepping stone from virtual racing to GT3, so that you can’t get to motorsport just through karts because it currently costs a lot of money”.
“We want to grow and aim for the top. Obviously you never know how things will go, but ambitions are always there. It depends on how many good people we will soon have in the team and how much experience we will have, but it would be nice if we could grow up to reach the top level in endurance racing”.
“We are currently working hard on this aspect. The next step will be our own GT3 team. Next year is quite close, but I want to do it as soon as possible. In 2025 it should be possible, with at least two cars. We are in full swing , the planning phase is over, now we are already in action”.
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