Max Verstappen opens up on Red Bull confrontation regarding sim racing on race weekends
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed that there was no ban on his sim racing activities despite the media and his team's heavy criticism. The Dutch driver made an excellent start to the 2024 season as he won four of the first five races comfortably before the first real chink in his armor came in Miami.
The P2 finish at the Miami GP was followed by a narrow win in Imola, where he held off the challenge from McLaren driver Lando Norris in the closing stages of the races. The 27-year-old pulled off an all-nighter on his sim while taking part in the 24 hours of Spa and the main race in Imola on the same day.
Many had attributed his close win to his late-night sim racing activities. As per reports, the Austrian team had a firm conversation regarding his off-track sim racing and reportedly banned them during race weekends.
However in his End of Season interview with ViaPlay titled "Max Verstappen: Simply Lovely", the four-time F1 world champion clarified the ban said:
“No, I told them this is my life and I live it how I want to. I’m not telling them how they should live theirs. and otherwise, go figure. I’m quite clear about that, I’ve been in F1 for 10 years and nobody’s going to tell me how to live my life. Of course, you can talk to me about it like: 'Max, this wasn’t a smart thing to say,' or anything and that’s fine, we do talk about that.
"But if it’s a bunch of unnecessary things like simming, I told them: what about Imola then? That was fine? The best part was the race afterward in Spa, it rained during the qualifying. coincidentally the sim race was in the rain at Spa. I told them: 'Look, I practiced well on the simulator! you can drive in the rain well,'" Verstappen added.
Helmut Marko gives his take on sim racing agreement with Max Verstappen
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko stated that the team reached an agreement with Max Verstappen regarding late-night sim activities after his double shift in Imola ahead of the main race.
Speaking with Sky Sports Germany during the season, the Austrian said:
"We have agreed that in the future he will not drive well past 00:00, even though he has a completely different rhythm of life. But still, you have to avoid things like this that are understandably attacked in public. We know that sim racing is his biggest hobby."
Along with being a four-time world champion at the pinnacle of motorsport, Max Verstappen is also one of the best sim racers in the world and has his own team named Team Redline, who compete in iRacing events throughout the year. The Dutchman does put a priority on some of the biggest iRacing events in his days off the F1 track.