Max Verstappen teases future racing role away from F1

Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has teased future plans in the world of racing away from the pinnacle of motorsport.

Since making his F1 debut as the youngest driver in the sport's history at just 17 years old, the Dutchman has enjoyed a dominant career with all of his success earned as a member of the Red Bull family.

Despite stating recently that in an ideal world he would only race for Red Bull for the rest of his career, there have been constant talks in the paddock this season about Mercedes' interest in the reigning champion.

He is a generational talent and is currently fighting to match Michael Schumacher's record of five consecutive drivers' title wins, but Red Bull's progress in the sport has been on a steady decline all year long.

Though a move to the Silver Arrows now looks unrealistic for 2026, Verstappen has touched on his future plans in the sport in an interview with The Athletic, even revealing what he hopes to achieve outside the championship.

"My dream is of having a sim driver move into the real world and making it a success story, and seeing him progress, and seeing him evolve into a better driver. And also, hopefully, in the long term, make him basically a professional driver. That he can make his living off it," the 27-year-old revealed.

Could Verstappen's wild sim racing dreams come true?

Verstappen's love of sim racing and esports has been well documented, famously landing in hot water during the 2024 season as a result of competing in virtual endurance races on the same weekend as F1 championship rounds.

But it appears his passion for the virtual sport extends beyond a personal one, with the star admitting his true aspiration outside of F1 is to take a sim racer and successfully assist with transitioning them to the world of professional racing.

"That is the goal, and that’s something that slowly we’re making ways in," Verstappen continued.

"I know it takes time, but I do want to find the talent that is able to transition to real life."

The Dutchman has got a good head start when it comes to searching for promising talent, as he is already heavily involved with prominent sim racing outfit Team Redline.

Verstappen joined the squad in 2015 and has admitted in the past that at first, he mostly used sim racing as a way of connecting with the virtual team. Now however, his activities on the sim have lead to a dream of finding more opportunities for sim drivers to get out racing in the real world.

Many of the obstacles to the higher echelons of motorsport revolve around money, resource and location. Sim racing is arguably more accessible to racing hopefuls around the globe and with a deep understanding of the sport already, Verstappen could be the best chance of developing the pathway to real world racing.

The most famous instance of a similar project saw Jann Mardenborough get the chance to compete in his first real-life race as a result of winning the GT Academy competition in 2011, which earned him a professional racing contract with Nissan.

The Brit went on to drive at the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans and was even snapped up to drive for the Arden International team in GP3, an outfit run by none other than ex-Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner.

The move also saw Mardenborough gain access to Red Bull's driver development facilities, marking the first time a gamer had been given that opportunity, although he was not signed to their junior development programme.

Over a decade on since that first for Red Bull, Verstappen is hoping for is a successful pivot from sim racing into a long-term professional career on track.

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