Max Verstappen at Fuji: the official Red Bull video
The footage stolen by a few scattered spectators who had sneaked near the Fuji racetrack had already spoiled some time ago the news of the test of Max Verstappen behind the wheel of a Japanese SuperGT car. Now, however, there is also official video and photographic evidence from Red Bull, and not only that: also the times of the comparison – ruthless – with the category specialist Atsushi Miyake, under the downpour that hit the historic circuit near the city of Oyama, about eighty km from the capital Tokyo, on March 25 last year.
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The impossible challenge of Atsuki Miyake
The driver who challenged the four-time world champion is certainly no novice: he debuted in SuperGT in 2020 with GT300 category cars, moving to the premier class GT500 in 2024 and finishing third in the overall end-of-season standings, having also won at the Fuji circuit in the past. So, after a few laps adapting to a track where Max has never raced in Formula 1 (the last time the GP paddock raced there was in 2008), the start of the challenge, complicated also by impossible weather conditions: 1:45.453 for the “unfortunate” Japanese driver, followed by a 1:44.075 on the second flying lap.
At that point, as shown in the video recently published on Red Bull’s official social channels, it was Max Verstappen’s turn to get into the Nissan SuperGT protagonist of the challenge. On the first lap, the Dutchman stopped just a tenth off Miyake’s best time, then took off decisively on the second lap of his entire life behind the wheel of a GT500 on the flooded Fuji track: 1:42.290 his time, almost two seconds faster than the Japanese specialist’s best time, whose sportsmanship in agreeing to such a one-sided challenge is at least to be praised, against a super champion who has already proven to be a benchmark on every type of car, circuit, and in all weather conditions.
The words of the protagonists
“It was becoming a bit difficult to push to the maximum – explains Max – but after the first lap I told myself ‘I can do better than this’, so I closed a lap in 1:42. Then it started raining seriously and some of those corners became quite tricky. I was getting familiar with the car, learning to manage the throttle and braking. The steering is very different and you have to feel the grip of the tires. You can’t go flat out on the water streams crossing the track, because the corners don’t allow it. But it was a fantastic experience, hopefully next time it will be dry”.
“He is an F1 world champion and left me surprised, but I was also curious to see how different his driving style would be if we shared the same car. Even though unfortunately it was raining this time, I could see with my own eyes how good he is. I am thrilled to have shared this experience with him, I had a lot of fun,” concluded Atsushi Miyake. For Max Verstappen, it is certainly the best possible preparation ahead of the future (and imminent) experience at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring Nordschleife with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the team that bears his own name…
