“No One Is Allowed Within 10 Meters”: Cats & Kelly Piquet’s Daughter Banned From Max Verstappen’s Special Room for This One Occasion

The dedication Max Verstappen has for real-life racing is next to none. In one of the most dominant displays F1 has ever seen, he dethroned Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in 2022. As the sport takes a breather before the start of the new season, most of the drivers are enjoying their time off. Not Verstappen, though, as he is currently racing in 24 hours of virtual Le Mans. The Dutchman before the start of the race revealed how seriously he takes sim racing as well.

Max is quite a fan of sim racing and that we saw in his home setup. While the room it is set up in is pretty minimalistic, the simulator certainly isn’t. SCMP revealed what hardware went into making that high-end simulator, which can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $35,000.

Verstappen recently appeared for an interview with the Washington Post where they asked him, “You often hear stories of people getting distracted while sim racing, whether it’s pets, phone calls or just the doorbell ringing. Do those types of distractions happen to you?”

Max answered, “During practice days, yes. I have two cats, and they’re always running around. My girlfriend has a daughter, and sometimes she might be tapping me on the shoulder. But on race day, I make sure no one is interfering — I close the doors and no one is allowed within 10 meters of my simulator.”

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Max’s girlfriend Kelly Piquet’s daughter Penelope certainly has posed as a distraction to him in the past. We saw that in one of his live streams when he was tasked with babysitting duties.

When Max Verstappen fought off Kelly Piquet’s 2-year-old to protect his cats

Verstappen is big on gaming and that is no secret to his fans. The game most dear to him is FIFA, and there was a time when he was a high-ranked player. As pandemic-induced lockdowns hit, young F1 drivers Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, and Verstappen live-streamed their gameplay on Twitch. On babysitting duties during one of those streams in 2021, while playing Call of Duty Warzone, he had a hilarious interaction with Penelope.

As Max struggled to manage the two tasks, he was heard saying, “Ah! Penelope easy, easy! You have to be easy. Don’t destroy them like that. Yeah, don’t hit the cat. Yeah, that’s a cat. Penelope hello. What are you doing? Calm your T’s.”

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The conversation got a hearty laugh out of his clan mates as they heard their friend struggle with a 2-year-old. The Dutchman was definitely more concerned for his beloved cats.