Max Verstappen F1 News: Red Bull star delivers BRUTAL championship verdict

Red Bull

Red Bull star delivers BRUTAL Verstappen championship verdict

Red Bull F1 Esports driver Jarno Opmeer has issued a bold statement about Max Verstappen

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Tuesday 14 January 2025 11:57

A dire verdict has been issued for drivers hoping to one day challenge Max Verstappen for the Formula 1 world championship title.

The Dutchman secured his fourth consecutive title with Red Bull last year, and is looking ahead to next season to attempt to match the record of five consecutive title wins, currently held by sporting legend Michael Schumacher.

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Verstappen has been the one to beat in the pinnacle of motorsport since toppling much-loved British icon Lewis Hamilton off the top spot during the controversial season finale in Abu Dhabi back in 2021, and has the potential to continue to dominate the pack for many years to come.

Alongside his undeniable racing talent, Verstappen's success in the sport could also be put down to how many hours he puts in on the sim, both professionally no doubt as all F1 drivers are expected to do, but also for his own personal enjoyment through Esports events.

Verstappen's passion for sim racing has been well-documented, and it has even got him into trouble with his Red Bull F1 bosses, after he reportedly stayed up overnight to compete in a sim racing event the night before a disastrous Hungarian GP for the Dutchman.

Max Verstappen races for Team Redline sim racing team outside of F1 duties

Max Verstappen is a four-time FIA F1 world champion

Opmeer delivers driver warning over Verstappen preparations

As an active promoter of sim racing, Verstappen's prolific activity in Esports has not gone unnoticed, with Red Bull sim racer Jarno Opmeer highlighting how he feels it has aided his success.

In an interview with Formule1.NL Opmeer was asked whether other F1 drivers should be delving into sim racing as much as Verstappen does, issuing a damning statement for the four-time champion's competitors.

"Certainly, I think that should be the case," he responded. "Max is a bit of a founder in F1 in the field of sim racing. If they want to keep up with his level, they don’t really have much choice. Otherwise you just don’t get good enough.

"The younger generation has noticed this and can therefore be found regularly on the virtual asphalt. I sometimes race with iRacing, and there you also see the guys who drive at the top of Formula 2, such as Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoletto and Kimi Antonelli."

It seems the Red Bull racer may be on to something, given that all of the above former F2 drivers have now secured seats with an F1 team for the 2025 season, with perhaps the most impressive signing being Antonelli, who has replaced seven-time champion Hamilton at Mercedes.

Jarno Opmeer is a two-time F1 Esports world champion

Opmeer continued with a rather brutal assessment of the feeder series racers, stating: "The drivers who perform less well in F2, I rarely encounter them in the virtual world. Look, it won't be just because of that, but then you see that certain drivers do more for it and are willing to do more for it.

"Plus your technical knowledge simply increases. You learn to understand all the setup options, what it does, how it feels. That is simply very good to learn. You may not need that for Formula 4, but you do in the subsequent classes."

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Formula 1 Aston Martin Michael Schumacher