Verstappen on setting up own team: 'Reserve one car for sim racer'

Max Verstappen is looking to the future alongside his career in Formula 1. In 2022, the Dutchman announced that he is in the process of setting up his own team, both in real life and behind the simulator. Speaking to De Telegraaf, the Red Bull driver says he hopes this will give sim racers without the budget to kart a chance in motorsport as well.

Verstappen himself started karting at a very young age, but not everyone gets that chance, with money playing a big role in motorsport. "Almost all the guys who have become big in Formula 1 or in other classes started in karting. But even that is already so expensive. That's not for everyone. Sim racing is a lot cheaper," Verstappen began.

In 2022, one simracer already made the transition from virtual motorsport to a major class in motorsport. Cem Bolukbasi got the chance to drive in Formula 2 for the Charouz team. However, he did previously compete in karting, driving in the GT4 class and the Asian Formula 3 championship, among others, before moving to the step-up class for Formula 1. Now, the Turk is active in Super Formula.

However, Verstappen does not want to push too hard: "I don't want to shout out loud that it is possible to make it to Formula 1 as a sim racer. I want to build my own GT3 team in the near future. If we then reserve one car for a sim racer, that is already a very nice opportunity for a boy from that world to grow into the real car. We are all now looking at how we can make that possible."