After clinching his eighth consecutive pole position in F1 at the 2024 Emilia Romagna GP, Max Verstappen was asked in the post-qualifying media session about his upcoming stint at the iRacing 24 hours of Nürburgring race. He was evidently impatient to get behind his sim-racing wheel as he hilariously asked the journalist to stop asking questions.
When asked about his sim-racing commitments, the #1 driver hilariously replied, “That’s right! Stop talking.” Verstappen is set to race the 24 Hours of Nürburgring on the popular sim-racing title, iRacing.
they mentioned that max is racing the 24hrs of nurburgring.
max: thats right! stop talking
he just wants to get in the sim LOL pic.twitter.com/og4vMDbbSI
— nini (@SCUDERIAFEMBOY) May 18, 2024
He will race for Team Redline and compete in BMW’s GT machinery. The race format means that the Dutchman will have teammates, and hence, he can schedule his stints between the time he gets off from his F1 schedule for the weekend.
Verstappen, who is known to break quite a few records on the track, registered yet another record this weekend. The 26-year-old is now perhaps the only driver in F1 history to compete in two different races on the same weekend!
How seriously does Max Verstappen take his sim racing?
The Red Bull Racing ace is an avid sim racer. He even has a sim rig installed in his motorhome during the European leg of the season, which kickstarted with this weekend’s race at Imola. Verstappen is not competing in this event for pure leisure either.
iRacing is considered to be a very prestigious and competitive platform and Verstappen is also linked with the highly successful e-sports outfit, Team Redline. The three-time world champion is also keen on translating his passion for sim-racing into a pathway for other drivers to step into professional motorsports.
RacingNews365 quoted him as explaining, “The focus is on making the step from sim racing to GT3, so that not only you can enter racing via karting, because that’s ridiculously expensive at the moment.” Moreover, the #1 driver has also expressed his intention and desire to set up his own racing team.
