Sim racing late into the night? No problem for Max Verstappen. The Formula 1 world champion thinks the debate about his hobby is a pretext. He certainly doesn’t want to be silenced.
Max Verstappen keeps fiddling with his cap and adjusting it. Is this the new nervousness of the three-time Formula 1 world champion, whose Red Bull is reaching the limits of its dominance this season? Is this the tension of a superstar who could be thinking about leaving? Or is the Dutchman in his racing team’s motorhome simply annoyed by a debate about playing online races at night before a Grand Prix?
Verstappen is certainly aggressive on this sunny day on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. “I have won three world championships. I know pretty well what I can and cannot do,” the 26-year-old said before the last race before the summer break. He does not want anyone to interfere with his private life and his passion for sim racing. “I have no ban. I don’t have to tell anyone what to do in their free time or on the weekend,” he stressed. Any questions?!
Verstappen, who was born in Belgium, leads the World Championship standings ahead of his home race with a 76-point lead over McLaren driver Lando Norris. That is comfortable. However, the previous dominator has not managed to win in the last three Grand Prix. McLaren and Mercedes have made up for their performance deficit and are challenging Red Bull.
In such a phase, Verstappen’s constant ranting against the team strategy and individual team members in Hungary is particularly conspicuous. “Max Verstappen was rather thin-skinned this weekend, and of course it didn’t take long for criticism to arise – no wonder, since he spent half the night playing sim racing,” noted Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko in his column for the specialist portal “Speedweek”.
“Max has a different sleep rhythm”
After the night-time gambling, the mega-moaning on the asphalt and a collision with Mercedes superstar Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen only finished fifth outside Budapest. “If you don’t win the race, people always put it off: he stays up until three in the morning or he’s a kilo overweight,” said Verstappen grumpily. He pointed out that it was nothing new for him to “race until three in the morning” – he’s been doing it since 2015.
Verstappen had stepped in for a sick teammate the night before the race in Hungary and had taken on a three-hour shift for the Redline team for the 24 Hours of Spa. “In Imola, after a sim racing session, he didn’t go to bed until three in the morning – and then won the Grand Prix. Max has a different sleep pattern and he had his seven hours of sleep,” admitted Marko. It was agreed that he would no longer drive simulations so late in the future.
Tension at Red Bull
But Verstappen didn’t want to hear anything about it. “There are no other sim races coming up anyway, so nobody needs to worry,” he said. And a ban for him? No, that really isn’t possible.
After a season in which Verstappen won 19 of 22 Grand Prix and would have won the Constructors’ Championship for Red Bull even without the points from his teammate Sergio Perez, there is something distinctly sluggish about this season at Red Bull. This is certainly also due to the row that erupted after team boss Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate behavior towards a former employee and the demand from Verstappen’s father Jos that the Englishman should leave for the sake of peace.
The Marko Clause
And that is certainly also because, as a result of this debate, there is a lot of talk about Verstappen moving to Mercedes as Hamilton’s successor, even though the Dutchman still has a contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028.
This tense atmosphere is also reflected in the regularly recurring question about the future of Verstappen’s confidant Marko, who was once close to leaving the racing team early. The Austrian himself recently spoke about his contract until the end of 2026, which had been “adapted”. This means that Marko has committed himself to the racing team in a written supplement for the next one and a half years, which means that Verstappen’s exit is also off the table for the time being.
For the 61-time Grand Prix winner, the here and now is Spa, where he was successful three times in a row, but has to start ten places further back due to an illegal engine replacement. Another moaning aria is also not out of the question.
“It is important to be able to be critical, because in the world we live in today, many people can no longer take criticism as well as they used to. I don’t want to end up there,” said Verstappen, addressing his critics directly: “People who don’t like my language should not listen, but turn down the volume.”
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
