Max Verstappen addresses rumors of an F1 sim on his private jet: "That would be a bit absurd"

Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen has stated that he will not be installing a simulator on his private plane. Instead, he would be doing so in his new motorhome. The Dutch driver is known to keep his skills sharp off the track by spending his time on the simulator.

It was earlier mentioned by Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko that Verstappen would keep himself focused between the races by installing a simulator on his plane. However, the Red Bull driver stated that it would be a bit absurd if he installed a new simulator on his private plane.

According to Reuters, Max Verstappen said:

"I said I will install one (a simulator rig) there because I just can keep on driving when I’m back in the evening because I like it. It’s my hobby in a way. It just keeps you sharp as well. I think he (Marko) misunderstood and he said plane. So no, I’m not installing one in my plane. I think that would be a bit absurd."

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In the interests of the sport, you always want the teams to be super-close: Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen revealed that the F1 grid needs to be close to making the sport more interesting. However, he accepted that the new 2022 regulations brought the grid closer than before. Speaking to Reuters, Verstappen said:

"I think in the interests of the sport, you always want the teams to be super-close. But I do think it was already quite close last year."

"I think as a team we also really executed a lot of things better than the other teams and that's why I guess the points gap was also so big. I never really felt, apart from two or three races, we absolutely dominated the whole weekend. But for the sport, everybody wants to have a title battle with multiple teams involved."

Max Verstappen also spoke about the change of leadership in their rival teams during the 2022 off-season, adding:

"I never really think about being the favorite because you have to keep on working, you have to keep on improving because if you're not they will catch up and overtake you. About people leaving other teams, I don't know. It's difficult to say from the outside if it's a good thing or a bad thing, is it going to interrupt their work? If new people come in it always takes a little bit of time to settle in ... but I think you can still get a lot of performance out of it straight away."

It would be interesting to see how the new leaders in several teams like Williams, Ferrari, etc change their culture for the new season.