says his involvement in Staff Redline got here from a priority he recognized throughout his personal racing: real-world karting has turn out to be so costly that expertise is being priced out, so sim racing is usually a credible pathway into paid careers.
Verstappen has been a long-time member of the Staff Redline sim outfit since becoming a member of in 2015, and the crew itself dates again to the early 2000s as one of many best-known names in top-level sim competitors.
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However in an interview on the As much as Velocity podcast recorded throughout Bahrain testing, Verstappen defined why the venture is so vital to him.
Within the episode’s vast span of subjects, from the 2026 vehicles to his household influences and his father nonetheless competing at 53, the Dutchman repeatedly returned to the identical theme of extracting efficiency from coaching.
He described carrying that mindset from the simulator into race weekends and again once more, including how he pushes for marginal positive factors even within the remaining hours earlier than a race. That logic then flowed into Staff Redline’s goal: if karting is the primary rung and the ladder is being pulled up, the simulator turns into an equal and parallel route that may educate course of earlier than a driver ever has to take a seat in an actual automobile.
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Due to this fact, Staff Redline turns into a bridge to the racing profession that many dream of. Not essentially Method 1, however paid roles in classes akin to GT and endurance racing, the place factory-supported seats at the moment are life like.
“It’s additionally as a result of I believe go-karting these days is getting so costly. Even in comparison with once I was driving. There’s no denying that even in go-karting these days is lots of people with some huge cash. And I might do the identical if I had a son or a daughter that was racing. You wish to have the very best materials.
#31 Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari 296 GT3: Max Verstappen, Chris Lulham
#31 Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari 296 GT3: Max Verstappen, Chris Lulham
“However the issue is when you will have the cash, the costs go up and to get the very best materials… So I really feel like those who don’t have the cash or the chances generally, they’re being not noted or they only don’t get the fitting alternatives, folks surrender,” he stated.
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“Individuals swap to sim racing and I see a number of youngsters and drivers, they attempt to, by way of the sim racing world, make a profession. All of them dream of racing in actual life. And I had that comparable story with my driver [Chris Lulham] that’s now in GT3. He did go-karting. He did very properly. However then mainly that is the place the street stops.
“I’m simply attempting to create this chance the place – getting all the best way to Method 1 is hard. It doesn’t matter even if you’re the very best go-kart driver on the market, however I would like to have the ability to give them a profession. I wish to give you the chance that they’ll turn out to be a manufacturing facility driver in no matter class in endurance. How stunning is endurance racing these days with so many producers and giving folks nice careers and platforms.
“And for me it is precisely that. I wish to make it possible by way of sim racing which you can come and be a part of us. Be taught, I might say, methods to turn out to be a skilled driver by way of how you use from residence or wherever you reside earlier than you even go into the true world.”
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Whether or not that pipeline turns into a repeatable mannequin continues to be to be seen, however Verstappen has made it clear that his personal priorities more and more revolve round constructing entries for others into motorsport relatively than simply including extra information to his personal profession.
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