Tsunoda on relationship with Marko: 'That's why I moved to Italy'

After the race weekend in Hungary, there was much talk about Max Verstappen's sim race. The Dutchman was gaming on the simulator until 3 a.m. on the day of the race. Among others, Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko spoke out about it. That Marko is emphatically concerned with what his drivers do off the track was also confirmed by VCARB driver Yuki Tsunoda.

Before the weekend in Belgium, the Japanese driver was asked about to what extent Marko is interested in Tsunoda's activities outside race weekends. The 24-year-old driver made no bones about it in his answer. "Yeah, he's [Marko] obviously, he's quite interested in all sorts of stuff, that's why I moved to Italy," Tsunoda says.

Nevertheless, the current number 12 in the world championship does not fail to speak up for Verstappen with regard to sim racing. "Well, if that's true, driving sim racing until midnight or whatever, late night, before the race, it's probably the same for all of us. I mean, yeah, he's still performing well, so it doesn't matter," he said.

"He also takes care, not just the performance, how the drivers approach the racing, especially when you have more young drivers there," the Japanese driver concluded about Marko.