If Eddie Jordan had been Max Verstappen’s team boss, he would have curtailed the three-time world champion’s extracurricular activities. Jordan disapproves of Verstappen’s involvement in a sim-racing event during an F1 weekend earlier this season. “I would never have allowed that,” he asserts.
During the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, Verstappen also participated in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring for Team Redline. On Saturday evening, he drove a four-hour stint, and on Sunday morning – just hours before the Imola GP – he was again behind his simulator. Notably, Verstappen won both the sim-race and the Imola Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen is one of the most dedicated drivers on the grid, emphasizes Eddie Jordan in the Formula For Success podcast. However, he believes that the combination of a GP race and a sim-race in the same weekend should never have been permitted by Red Bull’s management.
‘Sorry, Max’
“As a team boss, I would not have agreed to that,” says Jordan. He would have imposed a racing ban on the Dutch driver. “If I were Christian Horner, I would have said: ‘Sorry Max, you’re here, you’re paid to represent the sponsors, the team, and everyone associated with our team’. I think it’s very difficult to maintain total concentration. I know from my own experience that I couldn’t. You don’t want any distractions.”
Jordan acknowledges that Max Verstappen is in a league of his own and that his track record allows him a bit more leeway. “I see that Max has the focus. And he’s on another level. I never doubted that he was going to win that race in Imola.”
