One of the most famous nicknames of Max Verstappen is ‘Mad Max.’ The Dutch driver brings an aggressive flair to his game with relentlessly aggressive driving, often leading to other drivers taking their feet off the gas pedal. Verstappen has often faced major backlash for this “edgy” behavior, but the Dutchman recently took his persona to the online world, where the gaming community happily welcomed his competitive side.
Verstappen took part in a Sim Racing Competition called ‘Golden Toast GP’ last month and had an unfortunate ‘rage moment’. During the race, Sven Hasse made an error that led to Verstappen losing control of his car momentarily and running into his teammate. The two-time world champion went into an instant rage and tailed Hasse closely, waiting for the perfect moment. When the opportunity presented itself, Verstappen did not think twice before shunting Hasse from behind, resulting in him getting disqualified instantly.
The F1 world champion called the incident a “joke” and a “clown event” as he raged about what happened involving him and Hasse. Verstappen faced major backlash for his “sore-loser” behavior at the competition. More importantly for him, though, Verstappen was at the receiving end of a rather unusual honor.
Max Verstappen gets crowned as a ‘true gamer’ for his antics
Throwing tantrums or raging uncontrollably after losing an online event are the two most essential elements of being recognized as a “true gamer” in the community. With Verstappen’s latest antics, he adds another feather to his cap. YouTube channel ‘theScore esports‘ has now labeled the Red Bull driver “a true gamer.”
The channel, hosted by Elisabeth Marchini, is a massive deal in the online gaming community, with over 2.08 million subscribers to their name. The hostess herself boasts over 47k followers on Instagram and over 1 million followers on TikTok. Apart from calling Verstappen a true gamer, Marchini had a few words she wanted to say about the Dutchman.
“Raging because you DC’d out of a 24-hour race is honestly pretty reasonable. But a few weeks ago, we got to witness Max’s true gamer fury.”
“Max could’ve shrugged it off and finished the race with grace. It’s only a game afterall, right? Max chose violence and barreled towards that m*****f*****, ramming him off the track entirely like a trademark racing gamer.”
Sim Racing is more than just a game for Verstappen
Even though the online gaming community welcomes Verstappen as a true gamer, the Red Bull driver doesn’t think of sim racing as gaming. Once his real-world driving days are over, the two-time world champion aims to make a career out of it.
Just Casual Max Verstappen things.
He had his entire private jet converted in the past few weeks so he could do some sim racing on the plane while he is flying. 😭 pic.twitter.com/ErTCGv12Qb
— Ana 🦁 (@maxvcalloway) January 25, 2023
During an interview with CNN, the 25-year-old revealed that he has an immense passion for sim racing. Verstappen also said he has plans to build something out of sim racing in the future. He wants to bring sim racing to the real world “in a proper way” and maybe even own a race team if he can.
