F2 and sim racing talent Esterson full of admiration for Verstappen: "I love it"
Exclusive
Max Verstappen is actively pushing for drivers to achieve success through an alternative route: namely through sim racing, in which he himself is active with Team Redline. This to the delight of Max Esterson, who followed this career path himself by starting with sim racing and eventually making the switch to real life motorsport. This year, Esterson will compete in Formula 2.
Verstappen praised for his commitment to sim drivers
Verstappen has repeatedly expressed a serious commitment to guiding sim drivers who want to make the transition to 'real' motorsport. Esterson, who has followed this alternative path himself, welcomes the commitment of the four-time world champion and stresses that there are a lot of top talents active in sim racing who also have it in them to make the step to a career in motorsport.
GPblog asked the American driver about Verstappen's commitment to sim racing, and he replied, "Yeah, I think it's great. There are so many talented drivers now in sim racing, and the talent pool is much bigger than in real-life motorsport. The level on iRacing, for example, is just as high as F1 in some ways. It's great that Max is able to support that."
"He's one of the best on the sim at the moment," he adds, laughing. "So it's nice to see. Hopefully, this will lead to something." Speaking to GPblog earlier, Esterson said that he has already competed against Verstappen once in the sim. Even then, he praised the Dutchman for his skills in the simulator, in which Verstappen currently spends even more time than Esterson, as the American stated himself.
Esterson made his debut in Formula 2 in 2024. He drove the last two races of the season for Trident, where he replaced Richard Verschoor. The Dutchman in turn acted as a replacement for the departing Dennis Hauger at MP Motorsport. While Verschoor will remain with the Dutch F2 team, Trident is holding on to Esterson, who will drive his first full season in the F1 feeder series in 2025.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels too!