Max Verstappen has already returned to winning ways although a month still remains for the 2024 F1 season to begin. The Dutchman along with his Team Redline mates recently won the Daytona 24H GTD championship. Verstappen, who is an avid simulator racer, showcased his prowess by leading his team to victory. The Daytona 24H GTD championship is one of the many virtual racing championships that take place in the world.
As per details from racingnews365.com, Verstappen competed in the event alongside teammates Ola Steinbraten and Gianni Vecchio. The trio interestingly drove the Mercedes AMG machine despite Verstappen being a Red Bull driver. As for the race, Verstappen’s team took the lead during the night and from that point on never looked back.
The Dutchman is such an enthusiastic simulator racer that he even competes in events when the F1 season is ongoing. For example, he competed in GT3 iRacing just 24 hours after he won the F1 race in Saudi Arabia last year.
While there is no doubt that Verstappen has a huge passion for simulator racing, he does not just participate for fun. Similar to F1, all he cares about is winning. As a result, there at times when the 26-year-old even gets annoyed when things do not go his way.
One such incident took place last year. On that occasion, Verstappen threw a tantrum after the servers crashed midway through the race. Since he lost out on vital places, he chose to retire and took a jibe at the organizers.
After the event, he called the tournament a joke and threatened that he would never take part again. Such is his passion and eagerness to win even in simulator racing.
Max Verstappen often spends time on the simulator when he’s not competing in F1
There may be very few drivers on the current F1 grid who are as good as Max Verstappen is, both on track and on the simulator. In an interview he gave two years ago, he explained how he spends as much as 40 or 50 hours of preparation before he competes in a virtual racing event.
He explained, “During F1 weekends when I jump out of my car, I would be on Discord texting the guys to keep me updated with set-ups and ideas to try. It’s 40 or 50 hours of preparation before a 24-hour race because I want to win in whatever I do“.
Verstappen now hopes to convert his passion for simulator racing into a business by creating his own team in the GT3 category. The main reason why the Dutchman is keen on creating a team in GT3 is because he wants to provide aspiring F1 drivers another avenue to make it to the top tier in motorsports.
Since the route via karting to get into F1 is very expensive, Verstappen believes aspiring drivers can use the simulator racing route. Although the 26-year-old has acknowledged that simulator racing will not provide the real-life experience that karting will provide, he believes it is still possible to make great strides in motorsports via this route.
