In the small hours of Sunday 21st July, Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen took part in a three-hour stint of iRacing’s 24 Hours of Spa event.
It was a virtual race that he and his Team Redline squad duly won, sharing a BMW M4 GT3 alongside Diogo C.Pinto, Chris Lulham and Florian A. Lebigre.
The participation showed an unparalleled commitment to the sim racing scene by the 61-time grand prix winner.
Following a somewhat tumultuous Hungarian Grand Prix, resulting in a fifth-placed finish, it seems that the current Formula 1 drivers’ championship leader and Red Bull Racing have come to an agreement preventing late-night sim racing participation before an F1 race.
That is, according to Marko in his column on the Red Bull Media House-owned publication Speedweek.
“Max Verstappen was rather thin-skinned this weekend, and of course, it didn’t take long for criticism to arise – no wonder, since he spends half the night playing sim racing,” begins Marko in German, localised to English by Traxion.
“I have to say that in Imola he didn’t go to bed until three in the morning after a sim racing session – and then won the grand prix. Max has a different sleep pattern, and he had his seven hours of sleep.”
This is a reference to May’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, a race that Verstappen won having competed, and also been victorious in, iRacing’s 24 Hours Nürburgring the night before.
“His late-night sim appearance on the Hungary weekend only came about because a driver in his team had dropped out,” continues the Red Bull Racing advisor.
“Nevertheless, we agreed that he would no longer run simulations so late in the future.”
Marko’s statements affirm that Verstappen will not race virtually late into the night – until 3 am on this most recent occasion – on real-world race nights. Crucially, it does not prevent the Dutch driver from participating in sim competitions should the timing align.
The 26-year-old is regularly part of Twitch sim racing streams for Team Redline, alongside his sim racing team-mates, mid-week. He and the outfit won all three top-split 24-hour iRacing endurance events this year.
Update, 25/07
Verstappen has some pretty strong thoughts about this. Sim racing is seemingly back on.
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