Reigning world champion Max Verstappen has been criticised for his outburst in the lead up to his decision of quitting the Le Mans 24 Hours Virtual.
It can be argued that Max lost his temper following a number of technical issues faced by his team.
The servers, after all, faced a security breach during the competition and even when the race did get underway, it was red-flagged twice due to inconsistencies in the server.
The platform used, rFactor 2, copped significant blame from gamers and enthusiasts.
Verstappen himself was highly critical of it and termed the entire event a “clown show”.
“They can’t even control their own game,” Verstappen said on his Twitch stream.
“This is the third time already that has happened to me now, being kicked off the game while doing this race.
“This is also the last time ever because what’s the point? You prepare for five months to try and win this Championship, you are leading the Championship, you try to win this race which you have prepared for two months and they handle it like this. Honestly, it is a joke. You cannot even call it an event. It’s a clown show.”
Max criticised for outburst
As is the case with social media, this rant by Verstappen quickly caught a number of people’s attention.
Commentator Ben Constanduros felt that Max had clearly overstepped his boundaries.
“If it’s a clown show, that makes me and my hard working dedicated friends, clowns,” tweeted Constanduros.
“Usually after a 24hr race I am tired but today has been an ugly, exhausting display of the toxic side of Sim Racing and social media. I am proud of what the Le Mans Virtual Team has achieved.
“Both today and the incredible achievements from the first 2 events. (2022 ran without server issues remember. Yes it didn’t go Max’s way today, he was unlucky to be disconnected like a few other drivers. The rest carried on, one of which won GTE. That is racing.
“But calling other humans out so strongly and feeding the community with negativity when in such a influential position was not wise and only fuels the toxicity in the community which only harms the Sim Racing world as whole.”
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