Yahoo Autos We Regret to Inform You That Max Verstappen Does Not Have a Sim Racing Rig in His Private Jet
A funny story broke a couple of weeks ago, where Red Bull driver development chief Helmut Marko told German press that Max Verstappen loves sim racing so much, he had a rig installed in his private jet. (You know, the one that makes him, unquestionably, a supervillain.) There’s no doubt Verstappen enjoys sim racing almost as much as the real thing, but it turns out this was but a flub on the big boss’ part. Verstappen did not transform his hurling metal scythe into a PC gamer’s paradise; that would be “a bit absurd,” in the words of the two-time Formula 1 world champion.
No — he had the rig installed in his motorhome.
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This clarification comes to us by way of Reuters, which actually published a story on Friday titled “Verstappen says Marko confused motorhome with private jet.” Look, there’s a lot of 2023 left to go, but ask me in 10 months if that’s still the year’s best headline. I have a feeling it will be.
Anyway, some background. Marko was posed the question by Sport1, after Verstappen’s ire in the wake of being repeatedly disconnected from the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual. Sport1 wanted to know if Verstappen was so incensed that he decided to give up the hobby for good (a weird question, if you ask me) and that’s when Marko kicked off the news cycle. Translated, he said:
The opposite is the case. 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.
Then, days later while in New York City for the launch of Red Bull’s new F1 car and partnership with Ford, Verstappen explained the miscommunication to reporters:
