“Everyone wants a piece of Max [Verstappen]”– Max Verstappen’s father slams Belgium for appropriating his son amidst his success

Tanish Chachra | 07/02/2022
"Everyone wants a piece of Max"– Max Verstappen's father slams Belgium for appropriating his son amidst his success

Max Verstappen’s father, Jos Verstappen, slams Belgium to make him an icon after reaching the pinnacle of Formula 1 in 2021.

Max Verstappen was born in Belgium and held both Belgian and Dutch citizenship. He competes under the Dutch flag and is hailed as a hero by his nation.

On the other hand, his father claims that Belgium hardly gave him any attention until a few months ago. But now, with him reaching the top of his sport, Jos Verstappen feels the Belgian media is claiming him as his own.

And it apparently annoys the senior Verstappen because up until now, there was no support from the same media. Thus, according to him, it’s just an attempt by the Belgian media to appropriate him.

“Everyone wants a piece of Max at the moment,” says Jos, “On the one hand, it’s a nice compliment for him. He is incredibly good, in the car, but also outside. Since the title he’s been handling it well, keeping his head and being himself. So I understand that many people are proud.”

“Of course I am. But there are times when I have a hard time with that. For example, in the eyes of some Belgian media, Max is suddenly a Belgian!”

“I think that’s a bit disappointing. We’ve been racing for years, but until a few months ago there was little or no writing about him in Belgium and now they’re suddenly claiming he’s theirs. I don’t see it that way at all myself.”

Also read: Helmut Marko says Red Bull’s risk-taking approach helped Max Verstappen win

Max Verstappen is a Dutch first

Verstappen Snr accepts that his son is also a part Belgian because of his mother. However, he claims that his son would be siding with the Netherlands whenever the two nations meet in a football match.

“Max has both nationalities, as Sophie and I were married at the time of his birth. But as he races under a Dutch license, he is slightly more Dutch than Belgian. That’s how he feels himself.”

“If the Netherlands were to play Belgium, he would be in the orange army. And if he had to choose one nationality, it would be the Dutch one,” said Jos Verstappen to the French media.”

Also read: Red Bull fear Max Verstappen years in F1 may curtail if Lewis Hamilton continues to compete against him at such intensity

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Jos Verstappen Max Verstappen Red Bull

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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