Max Verstappen Reveals What ‘Franz Hermann' Is Really Up To at Imola
Max Verstappen arrived at the paddock for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and was immediately met with a cheeky question: 'Are you Max or are you Franz?'
The reference, of course, was to his now-viral appearance at Nurburgring under the pseudonym Franz Hermann, where the Red Bull star reportedly broke a GT3 lap record during a secret test.
Advertisement
Without missing a beat, Verstappen delivered a perfectly dry response. 'Franz is actually having a lot of contract offers at the moment,' he said with a grin. 'So he's actually negotiating his terms for the Nordschleife.'
It's another layer in the growing legend of 'Franz,' who has become an inside joke among F1 fans — and a symbol of Verstappen's quiet dominance away from the F1 spotlight.
Max Verstappen talks to the media after 2025 Miami GP Sprint Qualifying.Peter Casey-Imagn Images
While there's been no official confirmation of his Nurburgring lap time, the story has only grown steam thanks to track insiders and comments from Red Bull's Helmut Marko.
The moment also gave fans a glimpse into Verstappen's mindset into Imola — relaxed, confident, and clearly enjoying himself.
Advertisement
View the original article to see embedded media.
Whether it's in an RB20 or a GT3 car under an alias, Verstappen continues to find new ways to make headlines — even if it's through his mysterious 'other driver.'
Expect more 'Franz sightings' in the future.
Related: Fans Roast Max Verstappen After He Tried Hiding as 'Franz Hermann' During Ferrari Test at Nordschleife
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Didier Deschamps on the brilliance of Doue and Yamal – and why he can't ‘copy and paste' PSG's success
Didier Deschamps had a hard enough job as it was fitting all the extravagantly gifted attacking players at his disposal into France's starting XI. Then Desire Doue came along. During the most recent international break, in March, Deschamps found himself grappling with the three-sided conundrum of how to grant his captain, Kylian Mbappe, the attacking freedom he desires, how to somehow harness Ousmane Dembele's remarkable form as a false nine with Paris Saint-Germain, and how to devise a system that would enable Michael Olise to fully express himself in a France shirt for the first time. Advertisement The two legs of France's Nations League quarter-final win over Croatia yielded only partial success on those fronts. The deployment of Dembele in a free central role in the first leg, a 2-0 defeat in Split, proved underwhelming, while Mbappe extended his run of international appearances without scoring to seven over the two matches. But Olise shone at No 10 in the return leg, opening his France account with a sumptuous free kick at the Stade de France that paved the way for a jubilantly celebrated penalty-shootout success. Doue successfully netted his spot kick after coming on as a 66th-minute substitute, but that was all before his man-of-the-match display in PSG's historic 5-0 demolition of Inter in the Champions League final. Having torn the Inter defence to shreds in Munich, becoming the first player to have produced three goal contributions in a final in the Champions League era, when he reported for France duty at Clairefontaine on Monday evening, it was with a status that had been spectacularly enhanced. There will be clamour now for Deschamps to find a way to include Mbappe and Dembele and Olise and Doue in his starting XI. But for the time being, he is simply pleased to be able to call upon a dazzlingly talented young player who showed at the Allianz Arena that he is already in the thrilling first flush of full sporting maturity. 'I wasn't surprised,' Deschamps tells The Athletic. 'He went from Rennes, where he was doing good things, to PSG, where there were various steps to take and he took them all. 'I brought him into the France squad. I knew he had the potential and I've obviously picked up information on his personality and things like that. Being capable of doing that at his age in a Champions League final… Bravo. And it means he'll turn up with a big smile on his face!' Advertisement Invited to pinpoint Doue's most impressive qualities, Deschamps makes a point of mentioning the dedication and level-headedness that have impressed the winger's coaches right from the earliest days of his career in the academy at Rennes. 'He has the ability to beat people,' the France coach says. 'He has the ability to cover a lot of ground, which isn't always the case (for players with his profile). That's why he's able to play in attack and in midfield. 'And he's young. He turns 20 on Tuesday (June 3). Things haven't happened by accident for him. Everything has been planned and mapped out. And you need that. You can't do without it at a big club. 'He does everything he needs to, but he doesn't rest on his laurels. He's made a very good start. Now it's up to him to sustain it over time.' Doue's emergence also means there are now two DDs in the France setup. 'That's why I picked him!' jokes the other one. Deschamps is sitting in a light and airy meeting room on the first floor of Clairefontaine's training and conference centre, a modern four-storey building of stone, steel and glass that looks down a grassy slope towards the Terrain Michel Platini training pitch. Somewhat incongruously, a gigantic inflatable green obstacle course is being erected on the lawn outside in preparation for a visit from the children of French Football Federation employees. It is the day after PSG's thrilling dismantling of Inter, but in the tranquil wooded surroundings of France's national football centre, which lies near the town of Rambouillet, 30 miles southwest of central Paris, the riotous celebrations that overtook the French capital the night before could not feel further away. As coach of the French national team, Deschamps was pleased to see a French club prevail in Europe's biggest club competition for only the second time after his own Marseille side's conquest of the continent in 1993. 'Whether you're a PSG supporter or not, they're a Ligue 1 club,' he says. 'And you can't say that Ligue 1 receives much consideration around the world today.' Advertisement But he is sceptical when it comes to any potential positive consequences for Les Bleus. For all the acclaim that Luis Enrique's side have received for their tactical synchronicity or the aggressiveness of their pressing, Deschamps believes it would be too difficult to replicate elements of the Spaniard's approach with France — not least because, as he points out, the only front line PSG players at his disposal are all forwards. 'I'm not complaining about the players I have, but (Achraf) Hakimi is not French, Marquinhos is not French, (Willian) Pacho is not French, Vitinha is not French, none of the (first-choice) midfielders are French. (Khvicha) Kvaratskhelia is Georgian,' he says. 'You can't copy and paste things, even though what they've done is very good. It works very well and it proves Luis Enrique right. Is it possible (to replicate)? Yes. Is there as much time? No. There's much less time. 'If you have seven or eight players, or an entire midfield, who all play for the same club, so much the better. I'd prefer to have 10 players from two clubs than 10 players from eight clubs. They have an automatic understanding and what they do with their clubs serves the national team, but it's not always the case. 'And even with the players I can pick — if we take the example of Desire Doue and (Bradley) Barcola — they're in competition! Sometimes they play together, but sometimes one starts and the other one comes on. It's difficult to transpose things. 'In a club, you have the whole week and you're playing matches together one after the other. So it's not the same.' Doue may be the name on everyone's lips this week and Dembele may be the leading French contender for the Ballon d'Or, but Deschamps takes care to make sure his skipper is not overlooked. Asked during a pool interview with journalists from several European publications if Dembele is a credible candidate for the sport's ultimate individual prize, the France coach replies in the affirmative, but then immediately brings up Mbappe, who he believes has had a 'great season' despite Real Madrid's failure to win a major trophy. Deschamps pays a generous tribute to Lamine Yamal and identifies the 17-year-old Barcelona winger as the principal threat to French hopes in Thursday's Nations League semi-final against Spain in Stuttgart, yet again his thoughts quickly turn to Mbappe, who came in from the cold during the March international break after six months without playing for his country. Advertisement 'Yamal is one of those extraordinary players,' says Deschamps, whose side fell to a 2-1 defeat against a Yamal-inspired Spain in the Euro 2024 semi-finals. 'You only ever get two or three of them at the same time. He does it match after match and he's still young. 'But to take the example of other players, Kylian is older, but at 18, he was doing things like Yamal. They're the fuoriclasse, as the Italians say, the hors categorie players, and they're able to make a mark on football very young with what they do.' Deschamps, 56, is approaching the final 12 months of his tenure as France coach, having announced in January that he will step down after next year's World Cup following 14 years at the helm. His tenure has included a World Cup triumph at the 2018 tournament in Russia and victory in the Nations League in 2021, along with runners-up finishes at Euro 2016 on home soil and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But he has often faced criticism over the stodgy quality of France's football, having notably steered Les Bleus to the semi-finals at last summer's European Championship in Germany without a single one of his players scoring a goal in open play. Although he tends to dismiss the impact of such criticism upon himself, he reveals that his decision to announce his departure was partly motivated by a desire to prevent his players from being caught in the crossfire. 'Everything that is external, it has no importance and no influence on me,' Deschamps says. 'But I felt that despite the results we'd achieved, there was a media environment that was too negative and it could have had an impact on the players. 'I don't think they deserved that. I don't know if it (his announcement) will help with that — it wasn't the fundamental objective — but that's what we've done.' Deschamps used France's Nations League group games in the autumn to enact what he has repeatedly described as a 'reoxygenation' of his squad, with Olise, Barcola and Roma midfielder Manu Kone among the young players to have been granted opportunities. They were decisions that he thinks his eventual successor will likely benefit from even more than he will. 'I made choices during the Nations League qualifiers that were definitely detrimental to me, but I felt that it was the moment to give playing time to younger players in order to prepare them,' Deschamps explains. 'After the World Cup, it will no longer concern me, but I consider that it's my duty to prepare for the near future rather than the distant future.' Advertisement Zinedine Zidane, who has been out of work since the end of his second stint as Real Madrid coach in 2021, is widely seen as the overwhelming favourite to succeed Deschamps. Zidane recently gave his strongest indication to date that he wants the job, telling guests at an event organised by his sponsor, Adidas, last week (as reported by L'Equipe): 'Of course, it's a dream, I can't wait.' But not for the first time, Deschamps stopped short of giving his former Juventus and France colleague a ringing endorsement, saying only that he was 'obviously a natural and legitimate candidate'. Deschamps is already guaranteed to step away from the France fold as both the longest-serving and the most successful men's national team coach in the country's history. But with a place in Sunday's Nations League final against either Germany or Portugal on the line, and a World Cup qualifying campaign to then begin planning, he bats away talk of what kind of legacy he hopes to leave. 'That's not a motivation for me,' Deschamps says. 'It's never been a motivation. I give everything I have for the France team. I did 11 years as a player and if I go to the end, it'll be 14 years as coach. Twenty-five years of my life, you know. 'I'm tied to the blue, white and red jersey, which is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me in my life. I'll leave what I leave. Nobody, not even my worst enemies, can take away the results I've had.'
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Bruno Fernandes rejecting Saudi Arabia is good news – and not just for Manchester United
It's easy to get annoyed at Bruno Fernandes. As an on-pitch presence, he's not especially likeable. His face seems permanently set to 'complaint' mode. He nags at referees. There was that undignified episode when Manchester United lost 7-0 to Liverpool a couple of years ago and he essentially threw a tantrum on the pitch. Advertisement But, as much as anything, that just illustrates something we all know: that on-pitch manners do not necessarily maketh the man. You hear plenty of stories about Bruno being a good guy, which at the very least balances the apparent petulance, most notably his attempt to pay for United staff to attend the FA Cup final after their free travel and accommodation were nixed as part of Big Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting drive. He also tends to be the one who 'fronts up' to the media after United defeats, when most of the time he's the least of their problems. That might feel minor, but doing it means one of his younger, more junior, probably struggling team-mates doesn't have to. Fernandes currently plays for a particularly bleak type of football institution: one that's rich and high profile, and thus commands a lot of attention, but one that can't win games, and is run by people who seem intent on flushing any goodwill they might have down the toilet through redundancies, price rises, cutting charitable grants and whatever else they have planned in the name of austerity. This is a club that has been carried on the pitch by their best player and captain for longer than he probably cares to remember, and one that you have little confidence is going to turn things around any time soon. In short, you wouldn't blame Fernandes for desperately grabbing at any plausible life raft that happens to float past. Which brings us to his decision to turn down Al Hilal this week. 'It would have been an easy move,' Fernandes said at a Portugal press conference on Monday evening. 'I had Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo there, two people I have a great friendship with. But I want to stay at the highest level, play in big competitions, because I still feel capable. I want to keep being happy, I'm still very passionate about this sport, and I'm happy with my decision.' Advertisement Fernandes was reportedly offered a contract that would have more than doubled his already significant wages to move to Saudi Arabia, with Al Hilal also apparently prepared to pay a £80million ($108m) transfer fee to extract him. Most United fans will naturally be delighted. Not only do they keep their best player, but they will be protected from the dispiriting prospect of their club probably frittering away a crucial windfall; of all the clubs you would trust to cash in on their star man and use the money to responsibly beef up their squad, United are at the bottom of the list. But the rest of us in Britain, Europe, the non-Saudi world, should be pleased, too. It is, on the most basic level, refreshing to see someone have the conviction to turn down that amount of money. I can't confidently say that I would. If you can, then fair play to you. Fernandes' representatives met with Al Hilal, so we can assume that he didn't turn the offer down on moral grounds, otherwise he might not have even entertained it. It's also true that it's easier to reject that kind of approach when you already earn £250,000-a-week at one of the world's biggest clubs. Fernandes is not exactly hard up. But it's still pleasing that a player has not signed up to the Saudi project; someone of standing has rejected being a representative of the ultimate purpose of their move into sport, whether you call it sportswashing, soft power or something less charitable. The players that have agreed to move to the Saudi Pro League so far have generally fallen into three categories: ageing legends in decline, like Cristiano Ronaldo or Sadio Mane; excellent-but-not-quite-elite types in roughly their peak years, like Ruben Neves, Ivan Toney or Aleksandar Mitrovic; and relative journeymen, such as your Daniel Podences or Georges-Kevin N'Koudous. Advertisement What they haven't really yet managed to snag is a genuinely elite player at the peak of his powers from one of the elite clubs; a player who could probably slot happily into most top European teams and who represents a legitimate loss to one of the 'legacy' leagues. You could argue Karim Benzema (who was the reigning Ballon d'Or holder when he joined Al Ittihad) or Riyad Mahrez (fresh from Manchester City's treble-winning season) fit into this category, but they were 35 and 32 respectively when they made their moves. Fernandes is 30, but still performing as if in his prime, so would probably have been the SPL's biggest coup from a purely football perspective, if not a PR one. As it is, one of the Premier League's best players is staying in the Premier League, and will continue playing at a level of competition that befits his ability. Whether it's for that reason, or a sign that not everybody can be bought, or that not everyone can be persuaded to represent state project — take your pick — this should be celebrated. This is all said with the caveat that Fernandes is staying… for now. We have been in this position before, where someone turns down a move to Saudi Arabia initially, only to reconsider. Steven Gerrard, who rejected an offer to become Al Ettifaq manager in June 2023 then joined them the following month, springs to mind. This article might look pretty silly if Fernandes flip-flops. He also isn't necessarily staying at United: should a competent European team make him and United an attractive offer, he may still leave. We also shouldn't pretend he's a saint who is sticking around purely for altruistic reasons, for the history of a proud football club that he simply can't abandon. He has made this decision for essentially the same reason that all of those players who have moved to Saudi: because it is in the best interests of him and his family. If a better alternative presents itself, he will probably take it, and rightly so. But for now, Bruno Fernandes is not moving to Saudi Arabia, and we should welcome that fact.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Gyokeres or Sesko for Arsenal? We asked agents, sporting directors and coaches who they'd pick
Should Arsenal sign RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko or Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres? That is the debate among the Premier League team's supporters, and possibly within the club itself. Sesko, 22, has long been considered one of the most promising young talents in Europe, and his 14 goals in 2024-25, including a run of seven in the German side's final seven games, further proved his potential. Gyokeres is five years older but has been one of the most consistent players in the game over the past two seasons, scoring 68 league goals for his Portuguese team. Advertisement Both, however, are unknown quantities in the Premier League. Gyokeres has been on the books of Brighton & Hove Albion, Swansea City and Coventry City in the English game, but only ever played in the domestic cups during three years with the former, who loaned him out to the latter two in the second-tier Championship during the 2020-21 season before Coventry bought him the following summer. While Newcastle United's Alexander Isak has long been Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta's first-choice centre-forward purchase, a deal for the 25-year-old Swede appears beyond his reach, given his current club have also qualified for next season's Champions League. The debate over who Arsenal should sign is nuanced — and it could be they opt for a different player — but part of the discussion is whether they sign a 'project player' in Sesko or go for the slightly older, more experienced Gyokeres. Which to go for is a question for Arteta, new sporting director Andrea Berta and the club to answer. So The Athletic spoke to agents, sporting directors and head coaches to see what they would do. If they are to sell Sesko this summer, Leipzig's preference is to do so early so they can rebuild their squad over the coming weeks. Given they failed to qualify for the Champions League, his departure would help plug a financial gap. For one head coach, who is well-versed in the Red Bull clubs and watches them closely, the answer to Arsenal's problems can be found in Leipzig. 'Normally, I like to work with the younger players to develop them, so I would go for Sesko,' the coach, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, tells The Athletic. 'With younger players, you can mould their attitude, create the values you want and help them take the next step. Look at Barcelona, for example, they have a team full of young, exciting players. The same can be said for Paris Saint-Germain, who have just dominated the Champions League final. Advertisement 'Sesko's a player with a lot of speed. For his game to go to the next level, he needs consistency — especially against the ball, because strikers can sometimes be lazy — but he has the qualities needed to go to the next level.' It can be difficult for supporters to find common ground when it comes to who Arsenal should sign out of Gyokeres and Sesko, as is often the case when confronted with a binary choice, and people working in the football industry are no different. One agent, in contrast to the head coach quoted above, believes Arsenal would be better served targeting Gyokeres and dismissed the idea they would lose value because of the Swedish forward's age. 'If you sign a striker who is 27 years old (which Gyokeres turns this week) and, as a club, you have him for four years, then you've done well out of that deal,' the agent says. 'The reality is that clubs don't keep players for multiple years now anyway, so Arsenal have to decide who is going to help them win today, not in four years' time — and it is difficult to look beyond Gyokeres' record. 'If you had two players who had exactly the same output and exactly the same style, you would naturally go for the player who is four years younger. But in this instance, they are two players with completely different goalscoring records, so you sign the player that gets you over the line in terms of winning titles.' Another agent offered an alternative outlook. 'You just sign the best player, right?' they said. 'You take into account your style of play and who is better suited to your system. 'With every transfer, there is an element of not having a crystal ball. Someone like Sesko may not develop how you think he will, while Gyokeres may not be any good in the Premier League. But if there is that much of a question mark over each player, then maybe it's not the right one (in either case) and they should be looking elsewhere.' Arsenal had targeted Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins in January, while one agent ironically suggested they should take a look at Monaco's Mika Biereth. Biereth, 22, was at Arsenal between 2021 and 2024, although he did not feature for the first team and was loaned to RKC Waalwijk of the Netherlands in 2022-23, Scotland's Motherwell in the first half of 2023-24 and then Sturm Graz of Austria before joining the latter permanently last summer. In January, the Denmark international was sold to Monaco in a deal reportedly worth up to €15million (12.6m/$17.1m at current rates), and scored 13 goals in 16 Ligue 1 appearances. Les Reed, a former technical director at the Football Association and once vice-chairman of Southampton, has negotiated endless transfers and is well-versed in identifying which player to opt for once a shortlist of targets has been compiled. Berta joined Arsenal earlier this year as their new sporting director, having most recently worked for Atletico Madrid. He, along with Arteta, is going to have a crucial role in signing the club's new striker. So, how does the relationship between a sporting director and manager work? 'The important thing is clarity,' Reed, now heading up Reed Consulting, tells The Athletic. 'If you've done a good job and you've got the right people in place, everybody should be on the same page. 'If you take a club like Arsenal, the expectation is for them to win now, but there is a secondary expectation that they will be sustainable and continue to win.' Reed notes a 'key question' that will be asked internally is whether Sesko is ready, at this stage of his career, to lead the line at a club such as Arsenal and help them win the Premier League. 'That's going to be the big debate they'll be having,' Reed adds. 'The safe decision would be Gyokeres, because you know he's still scoring goals frequently and would probably be the answer now. But there's no guarantee someone experienced who is knocking in goals at the top level is going to come in and make that transition either. 'It's a fine line, but that's what Andrea is getting paid the big bucks for — to get it right, to satisfy his manager and the club's owners and fans.' On Berta, Reed notes the importance of a new sporting director wanting to hit the ground running, especially when everyone knows not having a striker ultimately played a part in costing Arsenal a shot at winning the 2024-25 title. It will be imperative for the Italian to get the decision right. And asked how it plays out if there are internal disagreements over which target should be chosen, Reed believes they are few and far between — especially when you narrow the pool of players down to only a handful. Advertisement 'If you're in disagreement at this stage, there is something wrong about the way you're working together and the way you're drawing up your shortlists,' Reed says. 'If you're working from a long list down to a shortlist, the sporting director and manager should both be involved in those discussions all the way to the point where, if you're down to two players, you are going to be happy with either one. 'And if you are happy with either player, then it would probably be easier to go with the coach's view.' What also needs to be considered is how any potential arrival impacts the wider squad. The head coach we spoke to who favours a move for Sesko, for example, raises the importance of selecting a striker who helps get the best out of other Arsenal players, such as Kai Havertz. The German was signed as an attacking midfielder but has been used predominantly as a central striker by Arteta. 'Havertz is the type of player Sesko needs around him,' the coach says. 'For me, Havertz's best position is the No 10 role and not a striker. So, if you want to play with a 10 and a striker, then Havertz and Sesko can work that way. 'From what I saw of Arsenal last season, they were a little bit more direct and if they had a target player like Sesko up front, and then Havertz in the No 10 position, then it could be interesting next season.' The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that Arsenal require a central striker this summer, but whether that is Gyokeres, Sesko or somebody else remains up for debate. Do Arsenal want to go for a proven goalscorer with no Premier League experience, or a still-developing 'project player' who could become a leading forward at the club for years to come? It's a big moment for Artera, Berta and the rest of the Arsenal hierarchy. (Top photos of Sesko, left, and Gyokeres: Getty Images)
