Verstappen anticipating grid penalty amid sim racing backlash

Max Verstappen hit out at critics branding his 3am sim racing session the reason for his irritable display at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the three-time world champion saying “I think I know quite well what I can do and what I cannot do” as a grid penalty looms in Spa.

12 hours before Verstappen’s cutting expedition in Budapest last weekend, the Dutchman was wide awake filling in for his esports team, Team Redline, during the iRacing Spa 24 Hours.

The decision to partake in the early-morning event was heavily scrutinised by fans and the media after Verstappen’s performance lacked its usual flare, with the Red Bull higher-ups’ control also coming into question for allowing their driver to be preoccupied on a race weekend.

“Max has a different sleep rhythm and he had his seven hours of sleep,” Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko said when speaking with Speedweek, a Red Bull-owned publication earlier this week.

“His late-night sim race on the Hungarian weekend only came about because a driver in his team was cancelled. 

“Nevertheless, we have agreed that he will no longer drive sims so late in future.”

That isn’t a sentiment Verstappen was happy to echo publicly, however, insisting that the late bedtime wasn’t at fault for his flustered 70-lap performance and that he will continue his hobby even if it coincides with the F1 schedule in the future.

“I think it’s always, these kinds of things come up right? So, when you don’t win a race, you can always argue what it was,” Verstappen said.

“Was it what you ate the night before? Or, did you go to the toilet before the race? You know, there is always things; your warm-up maybe wasn’t right… like I don’t believe in that.

“I’m a three-time world champion, I think I know quite well what I can do and what I cannot do.

“I’ve been doing that already for 8-9 years, you know, at this kind of stuff and suddenly now because you have one race where things didn’t work out, then these kind of things get brought up by some people.

“Well, for me, it’s just like any other day, you know, so for me it had nothing to do with that.

“I think I’m professional enough to know when it’s appropriate or not, and we move on from that.”

This isn’t the first time Verstappen has had an early morning sim race before a Grand Prix this season, winning the Nurburgring 24 Hours on the same weekend he hailed victorious twice during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in May.

In his defence, Verstappen was sure to recount that very weekend.

“We (Christian Horner and Helmut Marko) talked about it,” Verstappen said. 

“There is no other sim race coming up anyway, so no one needs to worry about that, so no, it’s not that I have a ban or whatever.

“I also don’t need to tell them what they do in their private time and during the weekends, and that’s the same to me.

“Racing till 3am is not something new and, for me, it’s something very important in my life.

“It’s always when you don’t win the race, [people] will always blame it on: ‘Ah, he’s staying up until 3am or he’s being one kilo overweight’.

“There are always things to make up that you can argue about when you’re not winning a race, but at Imola, I did win the race, both of them, so for me, this is not something new.

“I have been doing this since 2015, so it is not something that is any different in my preparation.”

As Red Bull’s dominance dissipates in the face of a faster and more complete McLaren outfit, the championship-leading team is unaccustomed to the new-found pressure and is forced to tighten the reigns on its golden child. 

Margins will be all the more important for Verstappen this weekend, with the #1 likely receiving a grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix as the team looks to install a new internal combustion engine (ICE) in Verstappen’s RB20.

Red Bull’s decision awaits confirmation, however, Verstappen admits he’s planning for a “tough” run on Saturday and Sunday, two important sessions which could be influenced by wet weather and “hopefully a bit of luck”.

“You always try to look at tracks where it’s maybe the… I say the ‘best’ in the worst scenario,” the Dutchman said.

“But yeah, it’s going to be tough.

“The teams are all a lot closer, of course, this year with McLaren probably the fastest so, yeah, it’s not going to be easy to recover from that like the last two years. 

“Those last two years, of course, we had an advantage and I was, in a way, maybe also a bit excited to do it.

“Now, I know that it’s going to be tough, but you never know, an F1 Grand Prix is never straightforward.

“Normally there’s always things that can happen and hopefully a bit of luck.” 

The Dutchman will be on track at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps from 9:30 PM tonight, with FP1 closely followed by FP2 at 1:00 AM, Saturday morning (AEST).

Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

2024 Belgian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, July 26th:

FP1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday, July 27th:

FP2: 01:00 – 02:00

FP3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday, July 28th:

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race Start: 23:00

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