Red Bull Forbid Verstappen Late Night Sim Racing Sessions Following Hungarian Grand Prix

Thursday, 25 July 2024 at 10:00

Red Bull's bosses changed their stance on Max Verstappen's late-night sim racing sessions after everything that happened during the race weekend in Hungary.

Triple World Champion Max Verstappen participated in a virtual 24 Hours of Spa sim race during the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

According to reports, following the qualifying session on Saturday, he sim raced until 3 AM on Sunday. This was seen as unprofessional by many fans and F1 experts (like Nico Rosberg), as it is proven that lack of sleep negatively affects performance.

The Dutchman was overly aggressive on the team radio during the race on Sunday and also made more mistakes than he usually does.

While Red Bull's bosses initially defended the Dutchman when speaking to the media after the race, they apparently changed their stance during the week between the Hungarian and the Belgian Grand Prix. Helmut Marko wrote in his column for Speedweek.com:

"Max Verstappen was rather thin-skinned this weekend, and of course, it didn't take long for criticism to arise - no wonder, since he spends half the night playing sim racing."

Read also

Brundle Likes Verstappen But Wishes He Didn't Do One Thing

While Marko pointed out that Verstappen's sleep pattern is different from everyone else's, he proceeded to explain that Red Bull reached an agreement with the 26-year-old to limit the sim racing sessions so he won't stay up so late into the night again.

"I have to say that in Imola he didn't go to bed until three in the morning after a sim racing session - and then won the Grand Prix. Max has a different sleep pattern, and he had his seven hours of sleep."

"His late-night sim appearance on the Hungary weekend only came about because a driver in his team had dropped out. Nevertheless, we agreed that he would no longer run simulations so late in the future."