Verstappen does not rule out that a sim driver could one day become F1 champion

Max Verstappen believes that sim drivers cannot just get into a car and compete with men who have actually been racing on the track for years. However, the Red Bull Racing driver says it is not impossible that there will be a future Formula One world champion who did not start with karting but with sim racing.

Is it possible, thanks to the rise of sim racing, to skip karting and drive straight onto circuits in cars? "Ah, it's hard," Verstappen responds in a Red Bull video. 

Sim racing lacks aspects

"I've come across a lot of good sim drivers, also within my own team we have a lot of good guys, you know, it's unbelievable how fast they are. The problem is... I don't doubt that they are very precise, they know exactly what they are doing, they know how to go fast, but in real life the speed sensation, the G-forces and just the general force of pressing a brake pedal is different. I know you can train. You can get fit, but you miss the real experience."

According to the ten-time Grand Prix winner, it is very different when you are going through a corner at 250 kilometres per hour or tearing past a concrete wall at 300 kilometres per hour. "In a simulator you can press restart and start again. That mindset, you know, from when you are very little and then you grow up through it is very different between a real driver and a sim driver," he explains. "You need to drive a lot more in real life to overcome that little, it's not fear I think, but it's a bit of trust in the car."

World champion thanks to sim racing?

Verstappen believes sim drivers can also excel on circuits and become competitive. "If you give a sim driver a lot of track time as well, I think, yeah, they can get very competitive, but you need to give them an opportunity, but that costs a lot of money." Can anyone ever become world champion in Formula 1 who started in the simulator? "Never say never. I mean, it's hard - but if he has the right guidance and like I said, enough track time, who knows?", concludes Verstappen.