Max Verstappen denies Red Bull gaming ban: ‘It’s something very important in my life’

The three-time F1 world champion was speaking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend

Max Verstappen is now three races without a victory (Getty Images)

Max Verstappen insists he has not been banned from late-night sim-racing on a grand prix weekend by Red Bull as the fallout from his behaviour in Hungary continues

The three-time F1 world champion lost his rag last Sunday in Budapest, repeatedly swearing at engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and labelling the team’s in-race strategy “s***”, hours after he stayed up until 3am to game with his sim-racing side, Team Redline.

Respected F1 pundit Martin Brundle said the radio exchanges made him “uncomfortable” and when members of the media post-race asked the Dutchman about criticism of his team radio conduct, Verstappen said “they can all f*** off.”

Prior to this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko stated that the team have agreed with Verstappen that he will not drive in sim-races on a grand prix weekend – but the Dutchman denied that was the case.

Verstappen said at media day on Thursday: "We talked about it, I said, ‘You don’t need to worry, there are no other races coming up’. But no, it’s not that I have a ban.

“I don’t need to tell them what to do in their private time over the weekend, and it’s the same for me."

"I raced until 3am - it’s not something new and, for me, it’s something very important in my life. There are no other sim races coming up anyway so no-one has to worry about that.

“But it’s always when you don’t win the race that you blame it on, ‘You were staying up until 3am’, or, ‘You’re one kilo overweight’.

Lando Norris trails Verstappen by 76 points in the world championship (Getty Images)

"There are always things to make up that you can argue about when you don’t win a race, but for example in Imola I did win the race - both of them.

“For me, this is not something new, I’ve been doing this since 2015, so for me it’s not something that is any different in my preparation.

"I’ve won three world championships - I think I know pretty well what I can and cannot do.”

Verstappen, who has not won in three races, is set to take a 10-place grid penalty at this weekend’s race at Spa-Francorchamps, making the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri the favourites to back up their one-two finish in Budapest with another strong performance.

Norris trails Verstappen by 76 points in the world championship ahead of this weekend, which is the final race before the F1 summer shutdown.