“Franz is actually having a lot of contract offers at the moment,” Max Verstappen told the media during the Imola Grand Prix weekend after his stint at the Nurburgring under the fake name. While the Formula 1 driver was enjoying the more light-hearted discussions stemming from his pseudonym, he may not have been joking about the contract.
Franz Hermann now has his own line of merchandise on Verstappen’s official website after his successful GT3 test session at the Green Hell.
The Red Bull driver created this pseudonym to minimise the attention from fans and media as he test drove a Ferrari 296 GT3 at the famous German track. “They asked me for a fake name, so I said let’s make it as German as we can,” the driver mused.
As we’ve since seen, this Hermann character has now become almost as popular as the four-time champion himself, despite the intended anonymity, but it did allow the Dutchman a few hours in the early morning to crack on with his test – a test that was incredibly successful with him setting a new NLS lap record.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“I went there to have fun and just drive my laps. I [was] just there to learn,” he said after comments from drivers accused him of using DTM Balance of Performance (BoP) settings.
“Then the record comes out of course, and it’s as if other drivers feel attacked. I’m just enjoying myself, and then you get that kind of unnecessary comment, which I find totally pointless.”
Following this resounding success and the fanfare that came with it, it’s not a surprise to see that both the T-shirt and hoodie that went live on Verstappen’s shop featuring a deep blue Franz Hermann graphic are now sold out.
Priced at €59.95 for the hoodie and €39.95 for the t-shirt, both products sit tantalisingly at the top of the web page. Hopefully for fans of the driver, a restock will take place soon. And hopefully, we see more of Hermann in the near future.
