Max Verstappen recently took part in the Virtual 24 hours of Le Mans for the third consecutive year. The event was launched in 2020 to cover up for the actual race that was postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic, but it became a huge hit. Some of the biggest names from the racing world came forward to compete in the race.
Verstappen is a huge fan of sim racing himself and spends a lot of time on his simulator. In fact, he feels that being on the sim-racing setup helps him prepare for actual races. This year’s Le Mans, however, did not go according to plan for Verstappen.
The Dutch driver was leading the Championship ahead of the final, but a technical error spoiled his weekend. He was in P13 in that particular race before his Team Redline disconnected. When he wanted to rejoin, the race control told him that he couldn’t recover lost places just like that. Verstappen had to rejoin at the back of the grid, so he decided to opt out of the race altogether.
Max Verstappen threw a tantrum and retired according to Le Mans commentator
Recovering lost places after a huge chunk of the race was already over would have been difficult for anyone, even if it is Verstappen. However, according to the commentator of the race, Verstappen could have gone ahead with his run.
Verstappen’s Redline was the number one car for the team, but number two was another car led by 2022 F2 Champion Felipe Drugovich. Car number two was in the lead when the commentator decided to slander Verstappen for retiring.
“The number two Redline machine in the lead,” he said. “The number one had bailed out of the race despite leading the Championship. Verstappen threw a hissy fit and decided to retire.”
Verstappen himself was furious with how the server crashed mid-race. He called the entire tournament a joke, and promised that he won’t ever take part in it again. The 2-time World Champion put in a huge amount of effort into training and was very upset with how things panned out.
