The marriage between Formula 1 and video games is quite well documented. Esport league and racing sim training aside, drivers like McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc have been known to stream on Twitch during their downtime. So it isn’t entirely surprising to learn reigning world champion Max Verstappen has something of a FIFA addiction.
“There’s probably quite a lot you don’t know about Max,” Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner said around the time of last year’s US Grand Prix.
“He’s probably done about 14 hours of FIFA football this weekend while he’s been here.”
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The detail that might raise eyebrows, however, is the fact the 24-year-old Dutch motorsport talent was once among the world’s best players. Under the gamer tag “crgboy007” (according to game statistics site Futwiz), Max Verstappen achieved the FIFA international rank of #31 in August 2018, and an even more impressive FIFA international rank of #21 in January 2019.
This obsession with FIFA doesn’t appear to hinder his race weekend performance, either. During the 2021 US Grand Prix wherein he supposedly logged 14 hours, Verstappen managed to secure pole position against an incredibly dominant Sir Lewis Hamilton; eventually winning the race and earning his maiden world title (albeit under slightly controversial conditions).
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“I’ve been with him and he can be so relaxed and it’s almost like I wish I could be like that,” former Red Bull teammate / current Williams F1 driver Alex Albon revealed on the MotorMouth Podcast.
“The guy is opening FIFA packs before qualifying, you’re in a different level.”
“I’d say he’s very much the most gifted driver I’ve ever raced against. And I think it’s hard to say… we compare the greats.”
“But yeah, his driving does the talking, there’s no politics, how he talks or how he speaks. He’s very straight to the point.”
I guess some blokes are just incapable of losing.
