Two-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has snubbed Daniel Ricciardo’s simulator work, telling the Red Bull team he would rather do the work himself than use the Australian driver’s data.
It was confirm during the 2022 season that McLaren were parting ways from Ricciardo at the end of the year. It was later revealed that the Aussie was making a return to Red Bull as their reserve driver for the 2023 season.
A large part of the reserve driver role is to put in time on the team’s simulator to gather data as well as PR activities. However, Verstappen has said he does not want to use Ricciardo’s data so that he can tailor the set-up to his driving style.
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During an interview with Speedweek, the Belgian-Dutch driver explained:
“Sometimes the days in the sim are long but I am convinced that this kind of work is worth doing.
“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t want there to be a test driver working in the simulator like other teams do.
“I want to work on it myself because everyone has their own driving style. It helps me keep my concentration.
“After all, there’s not much to do at home other than train on the simulator. Plus it’s something I enjoy.”
Verstappen has been a lover of sim racing for a long time with an impressive set up at home. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also revealed to Sport1 that the two-time champion is having his private jet converted to be able to do sim racing whilst traveling. Marco said:
“He even had his private plane converted so that he can fly a simulator in the air in the future.
“But that’s a good thing, too, because Max needs this distraction. In any case, it didn’t do him any harm when it came to his two titles!”
