Max Verstappen, the current world championship table leader, has been untouchable on the track in real life; however, he has been facing tough competition when it comes to racing online as Verstappen was shown the door after he lashed out and deliberately tried to take out his opponent at Spa during a sim racing event.
The two-time world champion indulges in sim racing when off the track and competes in a few sim racing events. The event in question is the Golden Toast grand-prix an iRacing-hosted event, and the world champion’s behaviour at the halfway mark stunned the spectators and the virtual race community.
Why did Max Verstappen disqualified at the Golden Toast Grand Prix?
The Golden Toast GP is a three-hour-long sim racing event using GT-3 cars. 55 cars among a world champion compete to the finish line it was an ultimate decider between PGZmotorsport and BScompetition.
Sim racing as a whole has become a serious industry for drivers and seriously talented individuals to showcase their talent. One needs a professional sim rig as they call it including a racing seat, force feedback steering wheel, a high-res monitor, and a system to run the simulator to compete. These ‘sim rigs’ provide a very realistic feel making sim racing a very close-to-reality experience, due to this the e-sport is highly regarded in the racing community and teams like Ferrari have recently launched their own sim racing series too.
𝙂𝙊𝙇𝘿𝙀𝙉 𝙏𝙊𝘼𝙎𝙏 𝙂𝙋
55 cars at Spa-Francorchamps in a gripping @iRacing Battle Royale.@PabloGz and @vcofh in Race Control. And the ultimate decider between @PGZMotorsport and @BScompetition.
Register now to be a part of it! 👉🏻 https://t.co/fcTq6Ioho5#goldentoastgp pic.twitter.com/8k1wKyaEqe
— VCO 🕹🏎 (@vcoesports) June 22, 2023
Max kicked off the event by securing the pole position showcasing impeccable talent and skills but with an hour and 50 mins left on the clock thing started to go south. A group of cars including that of Max Verstappen reached the La Source hairpin. While braking, Max Verstappen was rear-ended by German race car driver Sven-Ole Hasse, causing Max Verstappen to go a little too deep driving him into his teammate Diogo Pinto and causing them both to spin out. But Max swiftly collected himself and got to racing pace behind the aforementioned group of racers, unfortunately, the drama did not end there. Max made it clear he had a not-so-good plan as he sped through the escape without even trying to turn the car, this resulted in Max being on the tail of the German driver in the braking zone at a very high speed taking him and Hasee into the gravel.
Seconds after the incident Max was disqualified from the event.
Here we have Max POV from when he shunted the other person on the Iracing today! 😭 pic.twitter.com/pLmUdYWltu
— Ana 🦁 (@maxvcalloway) July 15, 2023
Formula 1 community reacts to Max Verstappen’s disqualification
Max Verstappen has been called aggressive and bold as a person and a driver in the past but recently these remarks have been coming up as much as they used to because Max Verstappen has evolved into a more composed and focused driver which even recognized by his fellow drivers
It seems that these remarks might make a comeback after what happened at the event to which the online racing community and Formula 1 fans reacted with hate and a sense of bitterness about the whole situation some fans even suggesting to ban him.
I swear you get banned from iracing for behaviour like this? Or will he get away with it because he's Max Verstappen? https://t.co/kjAtH5Hi6l
— Jamez¹⁰⁴ (@F1Jamez) July 16, 2023
What are your thoughts on this incident? Let us know in the comments section.