Verstappen Crashes and Earns Two 40-Second Penalties At Virtual 24 Hours Of Daytona

Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen received two 40-second penalties and also crashed during the virtual 24 hours of Daytona, ultimately finishing in P4.

Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen participated in a virtual 24 hours of Daytona iRacing event on Saturday and Sunday, January 18th and 19th.

While he secured a class victory in the previous year, the 2025 edition didn't turn out as the four-time Formula 1 world champion would have liked.

Verstappen drove for the Team Redline, along with Chris Lulham and Diogo Pinto. They qualified third in the GTP class but quickly gained the lead.

With the event taking place from Saturday to Sunday, it was the Verstappen's turn on Saturday night. During his run, he received two penalties for entering the pit lane incorrectly.

The 27-year-old couldn't believe that he made exactly the same mistake twice, and it cost him 80 seconds in total as he received two 40-second penalties.

This saw the Team Redline drop a position, but the Dutchman returned to the lead of the race, and he was leading with six and a half hours to go.

However, that's when Verstappen made the mistake that turned out to be the most costly. While trying to overtake the GTD car up the inside of the International Horseshoe, he appeared to aquaplane, made contact with the car, and slid into the barrier.

This incident, combined with the time it took to repair the car, ultimately resulted in Team Redline dropping outside the top three and falling back eight laps behind the leader.

They managed to recover one lap before the end of the race, but Max Verstappen's team ultimately finished only fourth, seven laps down on the leader.

Cheating winner controversy

The #50 Ferrari allegedly won thanks to cheating. A report from GpBlog suggests that the leading Ferrari was set to crash "exactly like Verstappen" but didn't sustain any damage due to a trick that they used.

The driver that was about to crash forcibly closed the game, pressing Alt+F4, which resulted in his car having no damage (after reconnecting) and consequently needing no repairs, which is what tends to take the most time.

The driver then reportedly joined back into the game without any damage sustained to his car and went on to win the race. Despite calls for disqualification, the #50 Ferrari ended up winning the GTP class.

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