Max predicts bigger differences at race starts

Published on 17 August 2015 by Stefan Meens

Verstappen.nl caught up with Max Verstappen during his summer break which has given the Dutchman time to try his new Playseat as well as to look forward to the second part of the F1 season.

Max enjoys all kinds of racing and since a couple of weeks, he is part of Team Redline, the online simracing world champions. “I'm really getting into simracing. If I could, I would have a full professional simulator at home but my current set-up is pretty close to real life. My previous set-up was good but this is even more realistic.” Nevertheless, Max' living room cannot compare toe Red Bull's simulator in Milton Keynes. “That thing is ten times the size!”

The youngest ever Formula 1 driver might be part of the motor sport elite in the real world, but how does he rank up against the online pros? “You can compare simracing to starting in go karts age four. If you drive them for ten or fifteen years, you're going to be very good at it. It's the same with simracing. So it's very hard to bridge that experience gap. Nevertheless I think I'm better in a real race car!”, smiles Max.

The Dutchman will get his shot on a real track in a real car upcoming weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The Belgium Grand Prix will be the first to feature the new start regulations. Max explains: “We now have to have all the settings for race day ready on Saturday as we are not allowed to change them on on Sunday. Before, we were able to change the clutch, its bite point and the torque on the starting grid, but that's not allowed any more. It means you're more dependent on your team. Only if you have the right set-up will you be able to have a good start. It means we'll see bigger differences between good and bad starts.”

Neverthless, Max is looking forward to what effectively is his home Grand Prix. “Spa with its long straights will be a lot more challanging than the Hungaroring. Of course I'm going to give it my all and hopefully I can score a few points in front of my home crowd. It's great to see all those Dutch and Belgian fans. It's special!”