F1 News
F1 Today: Ferrari cheating controversy, Verstappen time-penalties and F1 drivers take on Daytona
- Savannah Lenz
This weekend was a big one for Formula 1 drivers (both current and former). Two different drivers raced in Daytona, one virtually and one physically. Alongside that, time penalties were given, and a cheating controversy arose. In today's Formula 1 news, we focus on Max Verstappen's 24 hours of Daytona and Kevin Magnussen's new career path.
F1 drivers race in Daytona
Verstappen and his Team Redline crew raced in a Virtual 24 Hours of Daytona race. The actual 24 hours of Daytona takes place next week, but the sim racing is happening this past weekend. Another F1 driver, now former, who raced in Dayonta was Kevin Magnussen, a former Haas driver. This time, Magnussen was actually in Daytona, physically running a car. After his F1 career ended, Magnussen made the switch to IMSA with the BMW team.
The Roar is in the books It’s been a great few days here at Daytona, preparing for the race and getting to know all the good people from @bmwmmotorsport and @RLLracing. Looking forward to next week #IMSA
— Kevin Magnussen (@KevinMagnussen) January 19, 2025
@jameypricephoto pic.twitter.com/uYyOgHkGTh
Verstappen receives two-time penalties
During his racing stint with Team Redline, Verstappen racked up two 40-second time penalties for unsafe entry into the pitlane. Alongside that, he also faced a blunder when he crashed two times. Both of these things greatly affected Team Redline during their race. They were participating in the virtual 24 Hours of Daytona race. Due to this, they ended up six laps down and unable to catch up.
Virtual Daytona: Ferrari cheating scandal
During the virtual 24 hours of Daytona race, one of the competing teams in the GT4 class used a "hack" to not crash. The leading team was set to crash car #50 when the driver decided to press Alt + F4. This allowed them to quickly exit and reenter to stop their car from crashing into the barriers. The Ferrari sustained no damages and was able to continue on. However, Max Verstappen, who had actually crashed, had to take the time to get his car repaired. Despite the audience calling for disqualification, nothing actually happened to the Ferrari, and they retained their win.
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