"But since it’s nothing negative you won’t hear it from anyone": Max Verstappen's sim racing teammate shares interesting details about the driver

Max Verstappen stormed to pole position in mixed weather conditions at Spa-Francorchamps, setting the fastest time by over half a second ahead of his nearest rival. After dominating the qualifying session, Verstappen's sim racing teammate shared insights into his masterful wet weather performance.

During the Hungarian GP, the reigning champion received criticism for participating in the Spa 24-hour iRacing event with Team Redline. After a scrappy race at the Hungaroring, he faced heavy criticism for putting in late-night stints in the sim race before the race day.

One week later, Max Verstappen took a dominant pole position, using his experiences from his sim racing event in wet weather conditions. Team Redline driver Gianni Vecchio highlighted this on X (formerly Twitter), noting that the Verstappen did a lot of wet weather practice last weekend, which proved to be fruitful.

Vecchio also wrote that the positives from the sim racing event wouldn't be highlighted by those who were critical of the world champion. He wrote:

"Rumors say that there was a lot of wet driving practice for the iRacing Spa 24h last weekend but since it’s nothing negative you won’t hear it from anyone 🤭"

Despite storming to pole position, Max Verstappen will start the 44-lap Belgian GP in 11th position due to a 10-place grid penalty for using a new engine. Verstappen has taken engine penalties at Spa in previous years and has won the races in dominant form.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will inherit the pole position, with Sergio Perez starting alongside him on the front row. Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris will share the second row, ahead of Oscar Piastri and George Russell.

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Max Verstappen responds to sim racing critics after Spa pole position

The Reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, opened up about the sim racing event he participated in during the Hungarian GP. He admitted that the 24-hour event at Spa was held under wet conditions, allowing him to get plenty of laps under his belt, which prepared him for the Belgian GP.

Speaking to Dutch media outlet Viaplay, after the qualifying session, the Dutchman lambasted his critics for nagging him for the last week. He said:

"Last week I drove in the rain a lot, in the simulator here at Spa. You know, being in the sim is not so bad after all. While most people are nagging about that, they can all f**k off. But yeah, it was good day!"

Max Verstappen also acknowledged his 10-place grid penalty, admitting that the weather conditions for race day are expected to be the opposite of qualifying. He indicated that tire degradation will be the key factor in his charge through the grid. He aims to fight with Mercedes and Ferrari but reckons the McLaren drivers will be quicker.