F1 LIVE | Sainz to Mercedes? Ben Sulayem talks 12th team in Formula 1

07:00, 13 Jul
Updated: 19:49, 13 Jul
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Max Verstappen is a very proficient sim racer and the four-time Formula 1 world champion has even sim raced during Formula 1 weekends.
It is a developing hobby, particularly among the younger generation of drivers such as Verstappen and Lando Norris.
It is even becoming critical to develop younger drivers in the junior categories and gain a competitive edge.
Verstappen is blisteringly fast in the virtual world and has developed an alliance with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto.
The pair are both ambassadors for Team Redline in the sim world and they have built a rapport since the Brazilian's FIA F3 season.
Bortoleto told the F1 website his best friends in the paddock are Verstappen and Haas driver Oliver Bearman.
He said: "Well, I started playing a lot of video games with Max, and then a simulator as well when I was in F3. Early, early season in F3, so in January, February we started practising.
"We have a very nice group of friends that we all play games together and do the sim – his team, Team Redline, that I’m an ambassador for. Great people there, and that’s how everything started. Since then, we’ve spent a lot of time together playing games, and it’s been very enjoyable."

Brundle's non-apology

Martin Brundle's grid walk feature on Sky Sports F1 has become incredibly popular with plenty of interviews and funny moments.
He was denied a chance to speak to Jenson Button ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix in 2007 and had another tricky moment last weekend at Silverstone.
He walked past British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson a couple of times which prompted a repsonse online.
Brundle then responded after the incident and said in his weekly wrap-up on Sky Sports: "The grid walk was reasonable fun. “Apologies to any famous and high-achieving people I rushed past and failed to chat to, I’m afraid I have limited capacity to walk, talk, think, listen and meanwhile check out the faces of hundreds of people to see who they are.
“I had a few hits on the head in my former career, and so I need a new Google search and AI chips inserted because my brain still runs on floppy disks.”