Proud of Daughter Penelope’s Habits, Kelly Piquet Raises Awareness on Screen Time for Kids

Due to technological advancement, times have changed immensely. Today, far more children spend a significant amount of their time on their gadgets compared to several years ago. Being a mother herself, what concerns Max Verstappen’s girlfriend Kelly Piquet is that modern parents also encourage the same.

Thankfully for Piquet, she does not have the same issue to deal with as she is very proud of her daughter Penelope (P), who prefers spending time outdoors.

“Proud that my P watches minimal iPad and enjoys much more playing and creativity,” Piquet wrote on Instagram. “I get frustrated when I see parents constantly sticking phones and tablets in kids’ faces at every opportunity without even trying to find alternatives. We all grew up without, so it is possible to limit screen time.”

Kelly Piquet raises an important concern about children spending too much time on screens pic.twitter.com/jj8qni4ADm

— Business F1 (@BusinessF158116) January 14, 2025

Along with her informative post, she also added a picture that summarized everything she wrote perfectly. In the picture, several young children can be seen being glued to their phones instead of using that time for social interactions.

Piquet, who is now expecting a second child with Verstappen, will hope to pass on the same teachings to her second kid as well.

Taking to Instagram, the Dutchman confirmed his girlfriend Piquet’s pregnancy. “Mini Verstappen-Piquet on the way,” he wrote. “We couldn’t be happier with our little miracle”. This news came at the final race of the 2024 season in Abu Dhabi, following which Verstappen was quite happy in the paddock.

Will Verstappen take paternity leave for his first child?

With Verstappen going to have his first child, many will assume that he will take some time off in the upcoming season. However, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has confirmed that the Dutchman will not take any sort of parental leave.

“I don’t think so,” Marko replied to Felix Gorner from RTL/ntv and sport.de when asked if Verstappen would take a parental leave. The report adds that while engineers can miss four or five races in such a situation, the four-time world champion is not allowed the same, per the terms of his Red Bull contract.

However, Verstappen seems to have other plans to get parental leave. With the 27-year-old already having eight penalty points to his name, he is just four away from receiving a race ban.

“Maybe I’ll make sure I get to 12 [penalty] points when the baby is born,” Verstappen said after last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi. “Then I can go on paternity leave”. Since penalty points last for a year, there is a chance that the Dutchman can time his race ban to perfection when his baby is born.