Defiant Verstappen rubbishes idea of Red Bull 'sim racing ban'

A defiant Max Verstappen has rubbished claims of Red Bull imposing a sim racing ban on the world champion after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen took part in the Nurburgring 24 Hours on the Saturday night of the Hungary weekend, and was up until 03:18am on Sunday morning for his stint. 

In the race, a frustrated Dutchman lashed out at Red Bull for strategy calls over the radio, leading to the theory that that, and other incidents including the Lewis Hamilton collision, were down to him being tired. 

Verstappen declared his critics could "fuck off" after the race in which he finished fifth, with team boss Christian Horner and motorsport advisor holding talks with the three-time world champion. 

Marko indicated that Verstappen would be banned from sim racing across race weekends in the future, but this was denied by the driver himself.

"Yeah, I raced until 3am, it is not something new for me and it is very important in my life," Verstappen told media including RacingNews365. 

"We talked about it and I said: 'you don't need to worry, there is no other race coming up', but it is not that I have a ban or whatever.

"I also don't need to tell them what they do in their private time during the weekend, and that is the same for me."

"I've won three world championships, I think I know pretty well what I can and cannot do, and I am always very hard on myself on what is and what isn't allowed with all the experience that I have in Formula 1."

No sim racing ban

Hungary was not the first time Verstappen has raced online during a race weekend, doing so during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May, a race he won after seeing off a late Lando Norris charge.

This was pointed to by Verstappen as evidence of him knowing what he was doing.

"It is always if you don't win the race, you will always blame it on 'ah, you staying up until 3am,' always being one kilo overweight," he said. 

"There are always things to make up and argue about when you are not winning races. 

"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."