F1 News: Helmut Marko Reveals Max Verstappen Sim Racing Changes After Hungarian GP Loss

Saajan Jogia | Jul 24, 2024

Jos And Max Verstappen / Red Bull Content Pool

Reflecting on Red Bull's Hungarian GP performance, senior advisor Helmut Marko has admitted that Max Verstappen will no longer run late-night simulator races in the future after the Dutchman was criticized for his 3 a.m. sim racing the night before the race at the Hungaroring. Marko also admitted that Red Bull was behind McLaren performance-wise, and blamed Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for the contact at the closing stages of the race.

Questions arose about whether Verstappen's late-night sim racing contributed to his bad temper during the Hungarian GP. His frustration was evident through frequent radio rants directed at his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, about the car's understeering issues and the team's strategy.

He ended up securing P5 after making contact with Hamilton's Mercedes W15 in a fight for the podium, while his teammate Sergio Perez finished P7. Marko revealed that the team reached an agreement with Verstappen about his late-night sim racing activities. He wrote in his column on Speedweek.com:

“Max Verstappen was rather thin-skinned this weekend, and of course it didn't take long for criticism to arise - no wonder, given that he spends half the night playing sim racing.

"I have to say this: In Imola, he didn't go to bed until three o'clock in the morning after a sim racing session - and then won the Grand Prix. 

“Max has a different sleep rhythm and he had his seven hours of sleep. His late-night sim race on the Hungarian weekend only came about because a driver in his team cancelled. 

“Nevertheless, we have agreed that he will no longer run sim races this late in future.”

Red Bull Behind McLaren

The 81-year-old advisor acknowledged that the upgrades on the RB20 worked to a certain extent, but not to the extent that the team hoped. He conceded to Red Bull being behind McLaren as the conditions in Hungary favored the Papaya team. He added:

"The update mentioned has undoubtedly brought an improvement, but perhaps not quite to the extent we had hoped.

"Hungary is one of the slowest tracks, and on Friday we had track temperatures in the region of 60 degrees, and in qualifying it went down to 35 degrees. And knowing how sensitive the tires are to the smallest temperature differences, it was not easy to adapt the car accordingly. The McLaren, on the other hand, as we have seen this summer, is fast with all types of tires and in all conditions.

"During the race it was warmer again, but not as hot as expected, it was cloudy. Very difficult conditions across the board. In terms of the balance of power, we are just behind McLaren, but we were certainly the closest to the top in the last four or five races."

Battle With Lewis Hamilton

With Verstappen eager to overtake Hamilton for third, the pair made contact, and the impact caused his RB20 to go airborne and off-track, causing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to regain fourth position. While the stewards deemed it a racing incident, Marko blamed both drivers. He wrote:

“One thing led to another, emotions ran high, with comments that were inappropriate, to put it politely, from the race engineer and also from Max.

“And then there was that final action, when Hamilton and Verstappen were lapping a Williams and Max spotted a gap, immediately went into that hole and then there was a collision.

“I spoke to Verstappen about this: Of course, the wheels of his car locked when braking, but he would have made it through the corner, so there was no question of him losing control of his car. Max was ahead, but Hamilton turned in, and everyone could see what happened.

“So we ended up in fifth place, although we must not forget that in terms of pure speed we were just behind McLaren.”