After Max Verstappen‘s poor Hungarian Grand Prix performance, he experienced a lot of backlash due to his nightly activities. The Dutchman spends most of his pre-race nights racing on his simulator, and reportedly, due to his poor performance, Red Bull has banned him from doing so the night before the race.
Verstappen responds at the Belgian Grand Prix
Last week during the Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen stayed up till 3 a.m. to participate in an online race with his sim racing team, Team Redline. This habit drew scrutiny from reporters and media, especially due to his poor performance in that race.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko commented that the team had decided they “no longer run simulations so late in the future.”
This made the Dutchman even more determined to prove them wrong. He was the fastest this Saturday during the Belgian Qualifying; however, due to his 10-place grid penalty, he will start from 11th. He said to Motorsport Turkey:
“I drove a lot in the rain in the simulator at Spa last week… While people are bitching about it, being in the simulator isn’t that bad. They can go S*****.”
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Is Max Verstappen really banned from sim racing by Red Bull?
When asked about his ban from sim racing, Max Verstappen said on Thursday at Spa that sim racing is “something very important in my life.”. He denied the banning allegations or curfew and said that fans do not need to worry.
“It’s not like I have a ban or whatever… I also don’t need to tell them what they do in their private time and during the weekends. That’s the same for me.”
Furthermore, the 3-time world champion added how he had stayed up late during the Imola Grand Prix weekend to race in the virtual Nürburgring 24-hour race, a big event on the sim racing calendar. He won the virtual event with his four-person crew, along with clenching the pole and winning at Imola.
Lovely weekend with also a strong and dedicated performance from https://t.co/46lRXQtA7q Racing 💪 pic.twitter.com/Lyue1oXVFH
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) May 20, 2024
“It’s always when you don’t win the race, you will blame it on, ‘Ah, you were staying up until 3 a.m., oh, he’s one kilo overweight’… But for example, at Imola, I do win the race, both of them. So, for me, this is not something new. I’ve been doing this since 2015.”
He firmly ended with:
“This is not something that is any different in my preparation. I’ve won three world championships. I think I know pretty well what I can and what I cannot do, and I’m always very hard on myself about what is allowed and what isn’t allowed.
“I think with all the experience that I have in Formula One, I think I know quite well what is possible.”
Solid day to get started, and what a place to drive! Lovely to see so many of you already here 🇧🇪👋 pic.twitter.com/ftWDV2c52R
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 26, 2024
Therefore, according to the Dutchman himself, he has no curfew and does not plan on changing his practice or how he spends his personal time despite the backlash he got. He aims to work hard, as always and continues to drive confidently, with a very large gap between him and Lando Norris in the driver’s championship.
Rohit Kumar