Max Verstappen is not the only driver to have defended that name on Formula 1 circuits. His father, Jos Verstappen, contested more than 100 Grand Prix, the first of which was in Brazil in 1994, at the wheel of a Benetton withMichael Schumacher as his team-mate.
However, the Dutchman did not prove to be as dominant as his son and was only able to finish on the podium twice, both times in third place.
The former driver put a lot of effort into preparing his son and it worked to perfection. The Red Bull driver is on the verge of clinching his third consecutive world title.
Max Verstappen with his dad, Jos Verstappen
One and the same talent
His intentions were fulfilled, but… only halfway. Jos had another dream and another daughter, Victoria, whom he also tried to prepare thoroughly to follow in her older brother’s footsteps. “There were a few instances where my dad would spend two days preparing everything like he would do with me, making sure everything was perfect for her to drive,” reveals the current World Championship leader in an interview with racefans.net.
Victoria Jane Verstappen in the Red Bull box
The efforts were the same with both children, however, their desire and intentions were not the same. “Then she would drive for like 20 laps, and then she’s like ‘that’s it for me for today’. And then my dad would get quite annoyed,” Verstappen explained.
“I think my sister probably had the same amount of talent as I had when I was little, but she just didn’t want it enough. She liked it but not enough to, like, fight for it, be fit, be ready. That’s fine, as long as you realise that.”
Reaching the highest level involves a lot of sacrifices and that is also what the now dominant rider of the championship, in which only the 20 best drivers on the planet participate, talks about.
“People always ask me, like, ‘didn’t you miss going out with friends?’ Because of course, you couldn’t do it as frequently as other people. But I’m like that’s fine, because most of my friends were anyway within the racing community,” Verstappen said.
“I knew what I was working for, so I was happily giving up that side of my life because I was anyway enjoying what I was doing. So for me, it was not very hard to give that up.”
A maverick mentality, with an expiry date
After all the preparation he received at home and the experience he gained in the teams he worked for, he came to the ‘Grand Circus’ in 2015 to achieve everything his father had failed to do.
Thus, at just 18 years old, Max won his first race, at the Spanish GP in 2016. Five years later, in 2021, the Dutchman won his first F1 World Championship and is now on his way to his third.
It is certainly an enviable track record, however, the driver is not content with his results. Verstappen is always focused on improving his car with the team, even though there is little room for improvement, but that’s not what the Dutchman thinks.
Max Verstappen and Jos Verstappen
“Don’t have a lazy attitude of ‘we are winning, why do we need to improve?’ Because you need to improve. Because if you’re not improving, you’re standing still and you’re going backwards. So I think it’s all about that,” he insists.
In spite of his ambition, the Dutchman is clear that his time in Formula 1 has an expiry date and he sets himself limits.
When asked if he could race till the age of Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen said: “No, absolutely not. No desire.
“No, I have my mind already set on what I want to do also outside of Formula 1,” he says. “It’s a big passion of mine and I want to make that happen as well.”
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