When F1 Drivers Decided to Play FIFA With Max Verstappen Because They Couldn’t Partake in the Japanese GP

The Japanese GP is always an event to remember in F1. However, in 2019, a typhoon blew over the smooth running of the Grand Prix weekend and all drivers had to take a day off. The typhoon hit the Suzuka circuit and that disrupted Saturday’s running. So many drivers went to play some FIFA with Max Verstappen on his PlayStation.

The Formula 1 subreddit on Reddit posted a Throwback picture to show how drivers were playing the FIFA soccer game on Verstappen’s console. According to ESPN, these drivers involved Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Sergio Perez, Antonio Giovinazzi, and George Russell.

Tb to Suzuka 2019 where F1 drivers had a saturday off because of typhoon and decied to play FIFA with max on his Playstation
byu/Thin_Examination4929 informula1

Due to the typhoon canceling Saturday running, the qualifying happened on Sunday morning, before the race in the afternoon. While Verstappen had a great Saturday with FIFA, his race unraveled and ended soon after some terminal damage to his car due to a collision with Charles Leclerc.

Cut to 2024, Verstappen would enjoy a lot of online gaming, including iRacing and FIFA, given the way he is dominating. The three-time champion often plays online games on race weekends and whenever he gets time off from F1.

FIFA is one of his favorite games, even though the Dutchman lost to a pro-FIFA champion recently, showing that he still has a long way to go in online gaming. Besides FIFA, sim racing is also something Verstappen is quite fond of. However, the 26-year-old considers sim racing to be far more than just a game.

How Max Verstappen is growing his passion for online racing?

During the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP, Max Verstappen was quite actively playing iRacing online, throughout the weekend. Despite having race weekend sessions, fans spotted the Red Bull driver online on his iRacing account, playing the game until late night hours.

Verstappen is part of Team Redline, an online racing team, and often competes with them in several sim racing events. Last year, the Dutchman competed in the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2024, he also competed in the Virtual Daytona 24 event and in fact won it. His luck with the servers was much better for this race than the Virtual Le Mans, where the servers kept logging his car out of the event.

Apparently, Verstappen has greater ambitions with his sim racing hobby. He wishes to set up a GT3 team that will have a foundation with his association with Team Redline’s sim racing activities. The 26-year-old feels that young drivers can also hone their skills via sim racing and take a different path to the real world of motorsport.