Red Bull blast “rubbish” claims Max Verstappen anger was down to 3am sim racing sessions

Red Bull have hit out at “rubbish” claims that Max Verstappen’s fury during the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix was linked to his 3am sim racing sessions.

Verstappen repeatedly criticised the performance of his RB20 car and Red Bull’s strategy with a series of scathing radio messages during a frustrating run to fifth in Sunday’s race, which featured a collision with old title rival Lewis Hamilton.

The three-time world champion lashed out at his critics after the race, telling them to “f*** off” after some people had blasted the tone of his foul-mouthed radio rants.

Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft suggested Verstappen’s anger might have been the result of him taking part in a sim racing event until 3am on Saturday night.

“I don’t want to sound too critical, but Max Verstappen is sounding like a man who stayed up late last night doing a sim race, which he did, and then got up early this morning to do a sim race, which he did, rather than getting a good night’s sleep in Budapest, which by the sounds of it, he could probably have done with,” Croft said.

But Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko moved to reject the idea the two events were linked, telling Autosport: “He was up even longer in Imola, I don't know where the sleeping times came from again, and won the race.

“Max has a different rhythm to me or other people and the time he went to bed is nothing out of the ordinary for him.

“He didn't even wake up at ten o'clock in Zandvoort when the helicopters flew over his motorhome. He's got his sleep quota. He's had it as usual. That's rubbish.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “I think people draw conclusions, but Max knows what’s required and we trust his judgement on that.

“He knows what it takes to drive a grand prix car and to win grands prix and be a world champion. And, look, as a team, we always work as a team, and whatever discussions of how to improve will always not take place through media.”