F1 champion Max Verstappen reveals unfulfilled racing dream

Having scooped four Formula 1 world championships by the age of 27, you might think that Red Bull star Max Verstappen has achieved all of his racing dreams.

However, the F1 champion has now revealed a motorsport ambition that he is yet to fulfil and wants to in the future.

Verstappen's love of sim racing is well known, with the Red Bull star racing competitively in online virtual events, sometimes even during a grand prix weekend.

Now, in an interview with The Athletic, Verstappen says that it is a dream of his to help a sim racing driver turn professional and carve out a successful motorsport career in the real world.

"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," the Red Bull star explained.

"And also, hopefully, in the long term, make him basically a professional driver. That he can make his living off it."

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Max Verstappen reveals sim racing dream

The reigning F1 champion continued: "That is the goal, and that’s something that slowly we’re making ways in,"

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

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, what Verstappen is hoping for is a successful pivot from sim racing into a long-term professional career on track.

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