Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Monaco, 2025

Max Verstappen’s sim racing team, Team Redline, have reportedly been disqualified from a major esports event after they were found to be using a loophole in the rulebook.

The reigning F1 champion’s Esports team were taking part in the virtual 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, with Verstappen joining the live stream of the event to answer questions from fans.

The Red Bull F1 star was not competing this time around at the iconic track despite achieving success there both virtually and in reality in the past.

Three GT3 cars were entered into the 2025 event for Team Redline who dominated qualifying at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. The No. 71 Porsche of Gustavo Ariel, Enzo Bonito and Edoardo Leo took pole position with an 8:06.803, 0.149 seconds off the time of the No. 69 sister Porsche of Sam Kuitert, Luke McKeown and Cooper Webster.

Their No. 20 BMW was driven by Florian Lebigre, Chris Lulham and Diogo Pinto, who finished qualifying in seventh position.

Team Redline’s broadcast featured commentary from Luke Crane, who was joined by Verstappen, but things did not go to plan for his virtual outfit after critics quickly noticed them benefitting from an iRacing loophole.

Why was Verstappen’s Team Redline investigated?

Instead of starting from first, second and seventh on the grid after qualifying, Team Redline reset to the garage during their warm-up lap having gone out with as little fuel as possible and rain tyres despite dry conditions.

Upon returning to the garage, the team switched to slicks and filled up the tank, adjusting the ride height of their vehicle and handing them a significant advantage over their rivals.

Although the move is technically possible in iRacing, this strategy was not allowed during the 24-hour event and Team Redline’s exploitation of the loophole caught the attention of many on the live stream.

Following immediate complaints, the live stream ended and the three Team Redline cars were investigated by iRacing for allegedly violating two elements of the official sporting code.

Under article 8.1.1.4 (cheating), the code states: “Members may not cheat or otherwise engage in conduct deemed by iRacing to be in conflict with the spirit or intent of the Simulation or Sporting Code.”

Alongside this, the team were investigated for violating article 8.1.1.9 (nefarious tactics) which says: “Drivers may not use nefarious tactics to gain an advantage in Qualifying or Racing. iRacing.com will determine what constitutes an advantage.”