Atze Kerkhof has stepped down as a ‘driver performance consultant’ for Sauber’s Formula 1 team. The Dutchman, who closely collaborated with Zhou Guanyu among others, has already embarked on a new challenge: he will fully focus on Verstappen.com Racing Pro Simulation, a platform designed to bridge the gap between the virtual and real racing world.
Atze Kerkhof has been a driver coach at Sauber since 2021, operating under the name Alfa Romeo at the time. Kerkhof, also the team boss of Team Redline, is leaving the Swiss racing stable to turn a new page in his career. “After years of building and collaborating with some of the best drivers in the world, I proudly announce a new chapter: the launch of Verstappen.com Racing Pro Simulation,” he writes on social media. “In collaboration with Verstappen.com Racing, we are bringing my experience in Formula 1, simulator training, and engineering together in a platform that is entirely about performance improvement. From F4 to F1 and from GT sprint to endurance, our simulators and training programs are designed to elevate performance to the highest level.”
The project has officially started. “We have two large simulators: a GT simulator and a Formula simulator, which have been used for years by F4, F3, F2, and Formula Renault drivers for training. We do this at an extremely high level. We have developed it down to the smallest details,” says Kerkhof to Verstappen.com.
Immensely Grateful
Kerkhof initiated the project ten years ago under the name ‘Adrenaline Control’. Now that his chapter with Sauber has ended, the Groningen native can fully focus on the project, which aims to bring the virtual and real racing worlds closer together. “For the past four years, I have essentially spent my time on Formula 1 circuits for my work and have run this company remotely. This year, I decided together with Max Verstappen.com Racing to merge it and call it Verstappen.com Racing Pro Simulation, to introduce professional virtual training to the market with the current simulators we have,” says Kerkhof.
At Sauber, Kerkhof worked with various seasoned Formula 1 drivers, including Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, and Antonio Giovinazzi. “The bottom line is that I analyze all the telemetry and data we gather in the sessions and then discuss it with him, the engineers, and the team bosses. We look at what’s going on and what can be improved until the puzzle pieces fit together. In this way, we try to get one hundred percent out of the car and the drivers,” he explained to NOS in 2022. “I am immensely grateful that I have been able to contribute to the real Formula 1 world and I am now taking the knowledge I have gained there to this new project,” he concludes his message.
