Max Verstappen considering future house built around bigger home sim rig

Max Verstappen has revealed that when he’s thinking about his next house, one of the things on his mind is finding the space for a much larger racing simulator set-up.

Talking on the Securing the Win podcast, the four-time champion admitted that he’s toying with the idea of designing his next home around an upgraded sim rig, inspired by the professional rig he uses at Oracle Red Bull Racing’s base in Milton Keynes. 

A team’s simulator set-up and the software behind it are central to how it develops and performs during the season, and for drivers like Verstappen and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, time on this will be a large part of their routine. The Dutchman will spend long days in the team’s simulator, cycling through set-ups, correlation work, and race drills either side of a race weekend.

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But while this could be seen as a necessary evil, the reigning champion leans into it as a performance-enhancing exercise. 

“I know that I’m there for a job, and I know that there’s performance in it. So even though sometimes it might be a bit boring, you need to always tell yourself it’s for a good thing. There’s a purpose behind it and you need to be professional about it.”

Time on the simulator around a race weekend is “super important,” says Verstappen. “Because sometimes the conditions as well, they change in the weekend or, unexpected grip level, like it can be anything, right? Or certain problems in the car that you didn’t foresee. 

“And that’s why it’s still very important, of course, to have a super-accurate simulator with very good simulator drivers that can give you that right feedback that, once you come out of FP1, FP2 or whatever, you tell them, ‘OK, you try a few different set-up directions,’ and then it gives you an idea of what you need to work on.”

How many hours does the Oracle Red Bull Racing ace spend on the simulator? “A lot. I don’t want to count the hours,” he laughs. “Even at home, you know you can set the count, right? I never turn on the counter, would not be good to find out at the end of the season.”

Being a keen sim racer outside of his Formula 1 career, it comes as no surprise that the driver is interested in a house that can accommodate a bigger, more lifelike rig at home. 

“I think at Milton Keynes in terms of the platform and the movement, that is really, really important. And I think they’ve got that modelled really well. 

“I don't use that at home,” he laughed. “Otherwise my neighbours probably would be crazy as well. They would get crazy with all the noises. And it's way too big also to fit in an apartment.

“But at the end of the day, it's all about the software that you're using and how accurate that is. Because g-forces are very hard to simulate, anyway. So it's very important that the software that you're using is correct. That is a constant work in progress, to be honest.”

Max Verstappen, Oracle Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images

He was asked if he’s considering a house where he could create such a machine.

“Maybe not as big as the one in Milton Keynes, but it's something that I'm thinking about.”

Verstappen has been a committed professional sim racer for years, with him creating one of the most successful sim racing outfits in the world, Team Redline. Racking up major victories in iRacing’s flagship events, including the Bathurst 12 Hours, Spa 24 Hours, Petit Le Mans and the Daytona 24, he uses these to not only keep his own skills sharp, but to propel his team members into a real-life racing career.

2024 saw him complete a clean sweep of the iRacing 24-hour special events, winning at Daytona, the Nürburgring and Spa. This established him as one of the best sim racers in the world, not simply an F1 driver who logs a few hours when he’s not on track. 

Verstappen has long argued that sim work directly correlates to better performance in the real world - something he proved when he and his sim-racing team-mate Chris Lulham won on his GT3 race debut at the Nürburgring Nordschleife earlier this year. Following this, Germany’s motorsport federation has changed its criteria to make it easier for sim racers to apply for a DMSB Permit Nordschleife licence.