Max Verstappen’s iRacing Affection Spills Onto F1 Track as Dutchman Makes a Cheeky Celebration After Imola Win

One day and two races later, and that’s just the story for Max Verstappen this weekend. Not only did he take the win for Red Bull at the Imola GP, he also had a 24-hour LeMans in iRacing that ran through the start of the F1 race.

He delivered in the simulator and on the physical track, and the race was a close call. Lando Norris almost had the Dutch champion finishing less than a second behind him, and it looks like McLaren has caught up with Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of the car.

But despite McLaren’s efforts, the Dutch anthem played after the race, and while celebrating his win right off the track, Verstappen dropped a tribute to his team’s win at the Nurburgring 24-hour sim race. His celebration upon getting out of the car had him spread his arms wide up in the air, just like it’s seen in the iRacing logo, to celebrate his two wins in one day.

As soon as Verstappen put his arms up, hardcore fans of the Dutch champion saw the reference and brought it to the attention of the world. How Max Verstappen knows that his team won the endurance race while it was still running when he got into his single-seater is a mystery, but that’s easily the information that could be passed on by radio from his friend/engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

Ultimately, all this shows is how passionate the Imola GP winner is about racing, as he found time to manage big races on the same day. Although he had a big race coming up, he managed to make time for both and ended up winning both. So now the question stands: how did Verstappen pull this off?

How did Max Verstappen attend both the Imola and Nurburgring races on the same day?

Lucky for Max Verstappen, the Imola race is a European race, as this made it possible for him to bring along his sim setup to take part in the Simulator Nurburgring 24-hour race in iRacing. Verstappen is known to love Sim racing, and his dedication is visible this weekend. Before the Imola GP started, Verstappen put in 4 hours into the LeMans before going to sleep for the Imola GP.

He managed to clock in 7 hours of sleep during a race weekend after a hectic qualifier that helped him match Ayrton Senna’s consecutive 8-pole position record. After the celebration of the new record, it was straight to the simulator, where he managed to put his BMW GT in an advantageous position before having to go to sleep for the F1 race. He then handed the car to his teammates, who marched the team to victory.

Verstappen explained his schedule for the sim race before the Imola GP started and had fans at the edge of their seats for the whole race, as Norris was close at every corner, but he clutched the win by holding his position, leading to a win from pole position.

That being said, were you surprised to know that Verstappen competed in two races on the same day and won both? What does that say to you about the defending champion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.