Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has been labelled a “spoiled brat” who would be “nothing” without his father in a furious rant by a Williams-affiliated sim racer.

Verstappen, who claimed a fourth consecutive World Championship in F1 2024, is known to be a passionate online racer when away from the F1 scene.

Max Verstappen targeted in Williams-affiliated driver rant

The Dutchman picked up his first penalty of the 2025 season earlier this month after causing a collision at the first corner of a sim race at a virtual Daytona.

Verstappen, whose car suffered damage in the incident, was hit with a drive-through penalty an eventually finished a distant 12th.

The 27-year-old was once again in the wars this week while competing in a virtual race at Road America, colliding with Jaden Munoz, a member of the Williams iRacing Academy, on the approach to the first corner.

Munoz was heard commenting after the initial incident: “Look how dumb he is. He doesn’t change, ever. He’s so dumb.”

Circulating at the back of the field, Verstappen is then believed to have deliberately waited for Munoz to come around to lap him before deliberately hitting his rival a second time, a common revenge tactic in the sim-racing arena.

It sparked a stunning rant by Munoz, who argued that Verstappen would be “a nobody” without his father Jos Verstappen, who made 106 F1 starts between 1994 and 2003.

Munoz said: “I knew it. This is why you’re gifted everything in your life, Max.

“You’re a spoiled brat. You’d be nothing without your father, you’d be nothing. You’d be a nobody.

“He’s such a f***ing idiot.”

Verstappen’s sim-racing wars come at the start of a year in which he will be walking a disciplinary tightrope, with a potential F1 race ban looming.

The Red Bull driver is poised to begin the F1 2025 season on eight penalty points, with drivers triggering a one-race ban if they hit 12 points over a 12-month period.

Former Haas star Kevin Magnussen was forced to sit out last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix having become the first driver to be banned under F1’s penalty points system introduced in 2014.

Verstappen picked up six of his eight penalty points across the final five rounds of F1 2024, with the Red Bull man hit with two penalty points for forcing McLaren driver Lando Norris off track at the Mexican Grand Prix in October.

A week later, Verstappen was given a further point for being under the minimum Virtual Safety Car delta time during the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race.

Another point followed for driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying in Qatar, which sparked a furious row between Verstappen and Mercedes driver George Russell.

The following week, Verstappen was given two penalty points for causing a collision with Norris’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at the start of the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen’s penalty points tally is not scheduled to decrease until June 30, the day after the Austrian Grand Prix, when his two points for causing a collision with Norris in the 2024 race falls outside of the 12-month window.