One of F1's most exciting new talents has just signed up with a sim racing team

Max Verstappen, one of the most promising young talents in the F1 field, has just signed up with one of the most prominent sim racing teams, joining Team Redline. It all feels a bit like GT Academy, the Sony initiative that gets players into race seats, played out in reverse.

Verstappen's an F1 rookie, but he's already impressed this season, earning fourth in last weekend's dramatic and exciting Hungarian Grand Prix. He'll be in good company at Team Redline - Nicky Catsburg, his fellow Dutchman who was at the forefront of Marc VDS' victory at the Spa 24 Hours over the weekend, is also a member of the sim racing team.

Team Redline, meanwhile, bills itself as the world's most successful virtual racing team, fielding its team of drivers in the iRacing World Championships and hosting other big-name GT drivers like Richie Stanaway and Kelvin van Der Linde. It's been active for some 15 years, and races predominantly across iRacing, Assetto Corsa and rFactor 2.

Team Redline is also home to Greger Huttu, one of the most successful and well-known dedicated sim racers. Huttu famously once sampled the real thing, taking a Skip Barber F2000 and a Star Mazda to Road Atlanta, with amusing results (some vomiting was involved).

Verstappen will, of course, continue with his F1 duties. "I enjoy simracing outside of Formula 1," he said via the team's official Facebook page. "With Team Redline and Fanatec I'll be sharing the virtual track with the fastest simracers in the world which is a great test and the way I like it!"