Max Verstappen like Lewis Hamilton appears to be marmite amongst F1 followers and analysts alike and now a former Ferrari manager has called out the Dutchman to show more “dignity and decorum” following his online rant at the Virtual Le Mans 42 hour race last month.
Max was racing through the night on his sim rig when a server managing his race disconnected him costing the Dutch racer valuable time.
Verstappen disconnected from virtual Le Mans 24
Eventually finding Max 2 laps down in a hopeless position, the team decided to retire his car and Verstappen threw what has now been described as a “hissy fit.”
Verstappen went online and called for other users to uninstall the game describing the organisation as a “clown show”.
“They can’t even control their own game. This is already the third time this has happened to me, getting kicked off the game while doing this race. It’s also the last time I’m ever participating, because what’s the point?,” Verstappen raged.
“You prepare for five months to try to win this championship, you’re leading the championship, you’re trying to win this race that you’ve been preparing for two months, and they handle it like this.
“There have been two red flags, they cancelled the rain, because maybe that’s already a big influence, and people are still getting disconnected, and at one point we were hit by it, and they’re just not dealing with it, because they need even more people to disconnect.
Windsor calls for a better example
Broadcasting via twitch, Peter Windsor says Max Verstappen should be setting a better example to fans and young competitors alike.
“It’s a bit petulant, that, actually.
“He got a bit upset because some sim thing he was doing – a Le Mans race, I think – packed up before the end of the race.
“This is a double World Champion – who should be setting an example to the younger generation and the generation he’s in – who got annoyed about it as if technology failures never happen.
“I mean, come on. I’m a Max fan but somebody around him needs to be saying, ‘Max, Max, Max. Stay calm. Stay who you are. Don’t become a petulant twit, because that’s just ridiculous.’
“A World Champion needs to show a little bit of decorum and a little bit of dignity, and needs to set a bit of an example of not getting angry or upset or frustrated over things other than things to do with his own world – in the cockpit in which he’s racing and the car in which he’s driving.
Old time F1 boss doesn’t understand sim racing
Windsor’s opinion is diminished somewhat given he clearly has no idea the time and effort that goes into training for such an event.
The drivers’ put in weeks of practice to set up the car and prepare for a range of potential conditions, something akin to the old style unlimited F1 practicing which used to be allowed.
Further, we’ve seen a number of rants from the likes of Lewis Hamilton “getting angry or upset or frustrated…. In the cockpit in which he’s racing..” Its natural when a huge amount of effort has been expended in preparation for an event – to be frustrated when it was all for nothing.
F1 racing is not only about Hamilton, Verstappen, Red Bull, Mercedes. That’s all we seem to be treading about
Very true, grow up Max. It is just a game 😜
Mr Windsor is right… and wrong.
At the end of the day Windsor rightly believes the drivers get paid immense sums to be role models as well as to not sweat the stuff that isn’t in their control.
F1 is increasingly becoming full of people upset regardless of which decision is made. Red flag and they are upset. No red flag and they are upset.
Team managements role to question FIA decisions
Windsor is dead wrong, this was apparently the 3rd year on a row that they got network issues. 1 year can happen, but then fix it. Seeing the problems this year it is still a server side issue and they can’t handle the complete load of a virtual Le Mans. Normally you would stress test this with more traffic then expected.
“Dead Wrong” is dead right Hedgehog! For one like Max who is epitome of good behaviour, this is not petulance or sulking, it is impatience at the consistent screw up.
I also liked Bullmastiff telling Max to grow up and that it is just a game. He might also tell Ham and Wolff to grow up too. It’s just a sport!