Footage of Max Verstappen racing against a Super GT professional defies all logic
Footage of four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen racing against a Japanese Super GT professional has emerged - and it defies belief.
Verstappen has expressed his displeasure surrounding the new F1 regulations for the 2026 season, and hinted after the Japanese Grand Prix that he could consider his long-term future in the sport.
Away from F1, Verstappen has began participating in endurance races, with several appearances in GT3 cars to prepare himself for the 2026 24 Hours of Nurburgring.
The Dutchman has previously ruled out competing in rallying like his father Jos.
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But sports car racing is clearly one of his major passions, and he recently visited Japan to compete against a professional driver in Super GT - the top level of sports car racing in Japan.
Red Bull has links with the Asian nation dating back to their relationship with previous engine suppliers Honda, while reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda hails from Japan.
Super GT is contested across two categories - the GT500 and GT300.
The GT500 cars possess 650 horsepower, while the GT300 class is most similar to the GT3 car that Verstappen drove at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in March and April.
For the video, Verstappen was pitted up against GT500 professional driver and previous race winner Atsushi Miyake, whose team finished in third place out of 16 in their category in the 2024 season.
He has switched teams for the 2026 campaign, and he and team-mate Teppei Natori finished in sixth place in the second round of the season at Fuji Speedway.
Formula 1 visited the Fuji circuit between 1976 and 1977, and again between 2007 and 2008.
It was a popular venue among fans and inclement weather was commonplace, with the 2007 running of the Grand Prix seeing one of the wettest races F1 has ever held.
True enough, the track was already soaked before Verstappen emerged on track to test the Super GT car, adding another layer of complexity to the challenge.
Verstappen tests Super GT car
Verstappen's challenge was to test the car for the first time, before then attempting to beat Miyake's best lap time.
The Japanese driver completed his first lap in a time of 1:45.453 in wet conditions.
"Looks pretty wet, yeah?" Verstappen said to the presenter.
Miyake had a second run, and with the knowledge of conditions from lap one under his belt, improved considerably to set a time of 1:44.075.
Once he got in the car, Verstappen initially struggled with the conditions, sliding off the track before the tight chicane at turn 10.
He was three tenths down to Miyake in the first sector as he continued to get to grips with the new machinery.
But the four-time F1 champion astonishingly made up half a second in the middle sector, with only a small slide in the final sector dropping him a total of just 0.067 seconds behind his opponent.
Then it came to lap two - and Verstappen was fully locked in by this point.
He gained almost a second on Miyake in sector one, before marginally improving his sector two time from the first lap to move 1.4 seconds ahead.
This time around, the Dutchman nailed the final sector, gaining a further two tenths to set a staggering lap time of 1:42.290.
You can watch the full footage of his two laps below.
Miyake showed respect to Verstappen after his run, explaining how he treasured the opportunity to work alongside him and learn some new driving tips: "He's a champion, a world champion.
"By sharing the same car, I was able to see just how amazing his driving was, and that was incredibly exciting."
"It was just getting a bit tricky to push," Verstappen said after getting out of the car. "My first lap, I was like, 'Oh, I could do a lot better than that'.
"Then I did the 42, and it started raining, so some of the corners were a bit tricky."
"I was staring at the slick tyres the whole time!" he said, when asked if he would like to attempt the challenge again in the dry next year. "Hopefully, next year can be dry."
Topics:Ā Max Verstappen, Formula 1, Japan
Ryan Smart