Max Verstappen not only impresses in Formula 1, the Red Bull Racing driver also excels in the world of sim racing. According to Atze Kerkhof, team boss of Team Redline, the level Verstappen manages to put on the mat is truly exceptional.

Verstappen talented

Sim racing has boomed in recent years. There are an awful lot of sim drivers who spend more than 50 hours a week crawling in the seat to find every hundredth of a second. They spend hours searching for the right set-up, but when Verstappen starts racing virtually, Kerkhof says he is instantly very fast.

"Then he is immediately faster than 99 per cent of the field. If he then also has a bit of time to work with the set-up and put in the hours, he's just in the top three in the world. Sometimes he is just really the fastest in the world, in an eSports world where there is unlimited talent coming in, where there is unlimited training, where there is unlimited data that can be gathered and analysed. Max is an extreme talent there too," Kerkhof told Formula 1.co.uk.

Especially during the corona period, Verstappen could be found frequently in the sim, last year that was a lot less. Verstappen is part of Team Redline, although he cannot participate in all virtual races because of his Formula 1 programme. But whenever the 25-year-old driver has time, he likes to take part in races like the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans or the 12 Hours of Bathurst.