Max Verstappen banned from Sim Racing before Formula 1 races

During the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend, Max Verstappen, the reigning champion, took part in a simulator race for his e-sports team. He stayed up late into the night, until 3 a.m. to be precise, a schedule that ended up harming him.

While the Dutch driver was supposed to participate in the Grand Prix on the same day, he received a lot of criticism due to his later results in the race. Mistakes that resulted in a ban from Sim Racing by Red Bull.

A controversial race

During the race at the Hungaroring, Max Verstappen stood out notably due to his accident with Lewis Hamilton. While they were battling for the third place, a contact occured with Verstappen’s car #1 being sent into the air. This incident was later assessed by the FIA, which declared that responsibility was shared by both drivers. Despite this setback, the Dutch driver managed to climb to the fifth place, finishing the grid in that position.

The story could have ended there, but after more than insufficient performances in the race, Max Verstappen seemed particularly irritated on the radio. Even going so far as to openly criticize his team’s decisions. Quickly, fans associated this accident with a lack of sleep which could be due to the online race in which Max Verstappen participated.

The current world champion has held an e-sports structure for several years through his Verstappen.com Racing team sponsored by Red Bull. This weekend, the Dutch driver took part in the race under the name of the Redline team. This change was made at the last minute as the driver originally planned for the race could not participate. A session that took him until 3 o’clock in the morning.

This is not the first time he has participated in a simulator race during a Grand Prix weekend. A similar situation had occurred in Imola while he was taking part in the Virtual 24 Hours of Nordschleife. A race in which he had finished first. For Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s head, this first race is proof that his late sleep is not the reason for his behavior in Hungary. Nevertheless, Red Bull has decided to take measures.

End of late races for Max Verstappen.

Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, who had the opportunity to revisit the subject previously, showed his support for the Dutch driver, who was the target of numerous criticisms. While he was convinced that Max Verstappen knew what he was doing, his enthusiasm seems to have been shared by Helmut Marko. Max Verstappen was rather touchy this weekend, and of course, the criticisms were quick to emerge – which is not surprising, given that he spends half the night doing Simracing, he had declared. I must say this: at Imola, he didn’t go to bed before three in the morning after a Sim Racing session – and then he won the Grand Prix. Max has a different sleep schedule and he got his seven hours of sleep, Marko confirmed.

In the meantime, an internal discussion seems to have taken place within the team about this. It now seems that a similar incident should no longer occur. Nonetheless, we have agreed that simulations will not be done so late in the future,” Marko revealed. There is therefore little chance of finding the driver in a Sim Racing session just before a Grand Prix in the future.