News emerged that Verstappen’s plane had landed in Portugal. What initially appeared to be a holiday trip was instead confirmed as a test outing, with Verstappen running a Mercedes car at the Estoril circuit.

The Red Bull driver took part in a test day at the Portuguese venue, with his team running a Mercedes-AMG GT3 carrying the numbers 33 and 333.

Verstappen’s team will switch to Mercedes-AMG power next year, and two of those cars have been running in Portugal in Red Bull colours. Max was not the only driver on track, with Mercedes-AMG factory driver Jules Gounon also taking part in the test.

It’s clear that Verstappen enjoys other racing classes besides Formula 1. A few months ago, the four-time F1 world champion drove with Emil Frey Racing on the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

Together with teammate Chris Lulham, they were too strong for the competition at the German track.