Max very active with sim racing: 'It keeps me sharp'
Published on 19 March 2020 by Mike Motilall
The Covid-19 virus has a tight grip on the world and the daily life as we knew it, has suddenly taken a turn into the unknown. Monaco is one of the countries that has installed a lockdown and even Max Verstappen is forced to stay at home.
The Dutch Formula 1-driver spends his days now by using the training equipment he has at home and the gym apparatus he has on his balcony. Apart from that he is a great deal of his time in his own simulator and regularly takes part in online racing. In this manner he is still making tracks.
Tuesday evening Max took on the top virtual drivers of the sim world in the realistic game iRacing. Max, racing online for Team Redline, faced, among others, also Lando Norris. On the Daytona oval it came to a coming together of both drivers when the Briton tried to take the lead from Max and ran into the rear of the Dutchman. Him hitting Max was enough to send the youngster spinning and letting Norris run away with the win.
During the second simrace on Daytona, in which Max qualified second in a Formula 3-car, he ultimately took the victory home after some nice fights and a much talked about move. “It was a really fun race”, says Max after the race. “The car immediate behind of me and I worked well together to get everyone out of the draft, but we both knew we didn’t want to lead going into the bus stop and coming out of it.” Max explains how he rather cunningly managed to come out on top: “The only option I had was to try and trick it. Right before the chicane I braked and then he braked after which I was able to accelerate and create a gap of six tenths. That was enough to win the race. That was nice, it was a fun race.”
Of course Max hopes that the situation globally will start to normalize in a short while. But until then, he will keep himself busy doing sim racing. “It’s keeping me sharp”, says Max. “What else can you do at this moment, you have to stay inside. And it’s fun, I really enjoy sim racing anyway. Over the Winter I did it a lot and I try to practice my skills and make it even better. That’s why I love doing it.”
In conclusion Max says: “To host an event like this with professional drivers and the professional sim drivers is great. It’s good for everyone to stay sharp and trying to beat each other. It’s fun and we will do a lot more.”
