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Max Verstappen is a three-time Formula 1 world champion. Max Verstappen is also an avid sim racer, who spends the majority of his time away from the track on the computer doing sim races.
Both of those things have previously worked in concurrence with one another. But after a frustrating Hungarian Grand Prix, Sky Sports broadcasters suggested that Verstappen’s sim racing was working to the detriment of his actual racing.
Verstappen shut down that ridiculous line of thinking on Thursday after rumors that Red Bull Racing had told him to cut back on sim racing.
“We talked about it, I said, ‘You don’t need to worry, there are no other races coming up,'” Verstappen said ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. “But no, it’s not that I have a ban. I don’t need to tell them what to do in their private time over the weekend, and it’s the same for me.”
The specific criticism in Hungary came after Verstappen stayed online until 3 a.m. to complete a sim race the morning of the Hungarian Grand Prix. But he says that’s nothing new.
“I raced until 3am – it’s not something new and, for me, it’s something very important in my life. There are no other sim races coming up anyway so no-one has to worry about that. But it’s always when you don’t win the race that you blame it on, ‘You were staying up until 3am’, or, ‘You’re one kilo overweight’.
“There are always things to make up that you can argue about when you don’t win a race, but for example in Imola I did win the race – both of them. For me, this is not something new, I’ve been doing this since 2015, so for me it’s not something that is any different in my preparation.
Verstappen and Red Bull hope to get back on track this week at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit. He currently leads the Formula 1 world drivers championship by 76 points over McLaren’s Lando Norris.