Max Verstappen’s bid to win a fourth Formula One world title isn’t going as smoothly as what he or Red Bull would have hoped.
The Dutchman is the talk of the pits heading into the weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix as he prepares to serve a 10-place grid penalty at a time when his online gaming habits are also being criticised.
Verstappen is suffering his longest winless streak since becoming world champion for the first time in 2021, as he is now without a victory in his past three outings, and faces an uphill battle to break that record at Spa-Francorchamps.
His difficult spell has aligned with a rise in popularity for McLaren’s Lando Norris both on and off the track as the Brit continues to produce brilliant performances and emerge as a proper title challenger.
Norris is perhaps the favourite for victory tomorrow and could close the gap on the Red Bull star who leads the standings.
Max Verstappen is wanting to prove critics wrong at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix
The Red bull ace is currently winless in his last three races amidst a difficult time in the season
Verstappen has been criticised over his late-night gaming sessions in the wake of the Hungarian GP
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s drop-off has also seen him involved in high-profile crashes with both Norris and more recently Lewis Hamilton that saw him become locked in a war of words with the Mercedes seven-time world champion whom he has shared a long-term rivalry with.
Hamilton and his team-mate George Russell have similarly benefited from recent improvements in the wake of a difficult start to the new season and are playing a growingly disruptive role in Red Bull’s season.
The younger star was viewed as responsible when he crashed into Hamilton and found himself staring up at the sky but still managing to avoid a race-ending crash and eventually nursed his car to the finish line.
Hamilton later advised Verstappen to ‘act like a world champion’ as he fumed over his rivals’ behaviour in Hungary.
‘You have to be a team leader, a team member. Maybe not so much a team leader but more so just always remember you are a team-mate with lots of people and you have to act like a world champion,’ he said.
Verstappen can of course dispel all talk of any struggles at Red Bull by producing a stunning comeback victory from a minimum of 10th-place on the grid for Sunday’s race and has won on the past three visits to the circuit.
The difference on this trip to Belgium is that there are doubts over whether Red Bull are still the fastest team in the championship. Such a reputation might be one reason why the team have opted for a new internal combustion engine in Verstappen’s car.
That’s why the 26-year-old will serve a penalty in the starting order on Sunday, but it’s what he gets up to in his own personal time that much attention has been turned to.
Verstappen is enduring a difficult patch of form at Red Bull
Verstappen is not only addicted to winning in the real world, he is also determined to clinch titles in the virtual one as well where he is an avid competitor on simulator F1 racing.
He is a key member in a professional gaming team that share contracts with Red Bull and often stays up late competing in races as he strives to win top honours in e-sports.
However, on the day of the Hungary GP, Verstappen stayed up until past 3am as he filled in for an unavailable colleague in a Le Mans 24-hour race and struggled in Sunday’s race, eventually finishing fifth.
Red Bull’s team advisor Helmut Marko later explained the team have since told Verstappen he isn’t allowed to play games late into the evening on race weekends. Verstappen has since denied that is the case.
Marko told Speedweek: ‘It didn’t take long for criticism of Max to arise this weekend.
‘It’s no wonder, given that he spends half the night playing sim racing. We have agreed that he won’t do simulations so late any more.’
Verstappen was criticised by former world champion Nico Rosberg over his attitude, with the Red Bull star only to hit back telling those with opinions to *f*** off’.
He then explained that Red Bull have no control over what he does in his down time, adding: ‘We talked about it and I said you don’t need to worry. It is not that I have had a ban. I don’t need to tell them what to do in their private time at the weekend and that is the same for me.’
Both McLaren’s Lando Norris (left) and Lewis Hamilton (right) have been involved in high-profile crashes with Verstappen this season
Verstappen (left) collided with Hamilton (right) in dramatic fashion at the Hungarian GP last weekend
Verstappen has refuted claims that he has been told by Red Bull to stop playing video games the night before races
He added: ‘These kinds of things come up when you don’t win a race. You can always argue what it was. Was it what you ate the night before or did you go to the toilet before the race or maybe your warm-up wasn’t right.
‘I don’t believe in that. I’m a three-time world champion, I think I know quite well what I can do and can’t do,’ he added.
Whether Verstappen will prepare for Sunday’s race by staying away from the screens is yet to be seen, but should he finish the weekend by standing atop the podium then all talk of his off-track practices will be forgotten.
The title-holder is right to stand his corner, after all nobody has been able to so far break his stranglehold of dominance on Formula One and if Red Bull get their car firing then things have a chance of returning to more comfortable settings for Christian Horner and his team.
The team’s decision to take a punishment for using a fifth internal combustion engine comes at a track where overtaking is more frequent than it is on other tracks on the global calendar.
Verstappen has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s main event at Spa-Francorchamps
Verstappen has previously clashed with Red Bull colleagues on the pitwall during races
Verstappen finished over 20 seconds off adrift of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who clinched a first ever win in the sport last weekend albeit with a car that had taken damage in the collision with Hamilton.
10 places will be extremely difficult to make up against a paddock that is enjoying richer fortunes than has been seen in previous seasons and Verstappen will need to share a more positive relationship with the pitwall if he is to do so.
Any repeat of foul-mouthed rants down the microphone during races will only cast further scrutiny on Verstappen’s relationship with Red Bull and another defeat torrid performance will only fuel further talk of Norris mounting a serious championship challenge.
McLaren’s main man has cut the drivers championship lead to just 76 points and at a time when Red Bull are finally being tested for the first time in years, Verstappen needs to show that the wheels aren’t truly falling off.