Verstappen's success doesn't shock Berger: 'Racing, racing and more racing'
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- Toby McLuskie
Max Verstappen will make history in 2023 and former driver Gerhard Berger is not surprised by this. The Austrian states that Verstappen has been in a kart all his life and just keeps on racing, racing and racing, although Berger says that is not the only factor behind the Dutchman's success.
Verstappen with unprecedented success
Verstappen has been dominant this season and is heading for his third consecutive world title. In 2023, so far, the Dutchman has failed to win just two out of 14 races. Berger explains Verstappen's success: "Max didn't do anything else in his life than sitting in the kart every day, driving and driving and driving," begins the former F1 driver in the F1 Nation podcast.
Simulators increasingly important in F1
"But I think there's another factor. We are living now in a time where simulators are working very well too and I think Max Verstappen sitting every day in the kart and being at the same time a big fan of the simulator and playing these all day long, gave him knowledge of what I think is on another level," Berger continued. The simulator is hugely important in Formula 1 these days, including for tuning the car.
"In the games, he started to play already at very young years, all kind of situations after the start, after the first corner, into the first corner, into the restart and so on and I just think we see all these things. He doesn't make a mistake when it's a restart. He doesn't make a mistake when he reaches the race. He knows where to overtake and where not to overtake and this is all experience that he collected in a combination with karting and with simulators, what he's using very regularly," concluded the Austrian.