All high-performance athletes competing at the national and international levels are subject to doping control. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) is one agency that conducts these tests to see if the athletes have consumed any illegal substances to boost performance. Max Verstappen was the most recent target at the Dutch GP and was grumpy regarding his test timing.
Verstappen isn’t a morning bird and often plays video games at night to relax during the race weekend. The Red Bull driver usually wakes up around 10 am for an afternoon race. However, the agents from WADA arrived to collect Verstappen’s sample at 7 in the morning.
️ | Helmut Marko said Max got grumpy with an early visit from WADA on Friday for his piss
“Max was a bit grumpy. It’s just a Friday, we shouldn’t make it bigger than it is. People from WADA(World Anti-Doping Agency) often visit early, because it’s easy to get a first piss off… pic.twitter.com/Exgzt13GAs
— RBR News (@redbulletin) August 24, 2024
Explaining how Verstappen was grumpy about the timing, Helmut Marko told Telegraaf.nl, “Max was a bit grumpy. It is only a Friday, we should not make it bigger than it is. People from such an agency often come early, because then it is easy to deliver a first pee…”
However, in the three-time champion’s case, since it’s not his routine to wake up at 7, it took him about an hour to deliver the first pee. Drivers are subject to these tests that often happen after the qualifying session or the race day. Some visits even happen during non-race weekends. However, a test early in the morning on Friday is unusual.
Verstappen reacts to the Dutch GP doping test
What further added to his misery was the fact that Verstappen’s already been tested five times this year, with the most recent test in the last race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps itself. Yet, another test awaited him in Zandvoort.
Verstappen shared his frustration on Team Redline’s Twitch stream. He said, “So I’m in bed and suddenly the doorbell rings. I’m like, ‘What the f***? Who the f*** is ringing the doorbell of the motorhome?’ And then I look at my phone it’s 7 o’clock [in the morning] and I’m like, ‘what the f*** is going on?”
All of Verstappen’s doping tests came out clean. In fact, none of the current F1 drivers have ever been found to breach the anti-doping policy.
