“He was seven years old, I saw he had something special”– Jos Verstappen reveals what made him berzerk over Max Verstappen’s training.
Max Verstappen has elevated his father’s legacy with an illustrious career in Formula 1, as the Dutch race driver with every race, he is nearing his first championship title.
But Jos Verstappen had an early insight into his son’s capabilities, and he certainly sacrificed a lot, but he reveals what made it worth doing it all for him?
“When he was seven years old, I saw he had something special,” he told the Speedweek. “He was always incredibly fast on the first lap on cold tyres. And when overtaking. You can see where someone can overtake, how he prepares it – Max was always very good at that.”
“For me, it was between 80,000 and 100,000 kilometres with the bus every year,” added the 49-year-old. “I also prepared the engines, was a mechanic and a stay-at-home dad. That cost me a lot of time and money and I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t seen his talent.”
“I do think it was tough for Max,” he added. “We didn’t go to the track to chase the others. We went there to win, and that’s what I taught Max. I always just wanted to win, win, win. That’s what I asked him to do.”
Loosened the charge when Red Bull stepped in
Red Bull was the first team to catch the talent of Verstappen, and to date, the 23-year-old driver is with the Milton-Keynes-based team, he was only 17 when he made his debut with Toro Rosso, and that is when Verstappen Snr. left his charge.
“I was fully involved, also to show Max how to work with the team. The nice thing is we still talk to each other every day Max drives. We call each other and talk about how things went and what’s going on.
“I also tell him my thoughts on it. I’m just telling him, he doesn’t need to answer, but I know he’s thinking about it. That’s the only thing I want.”
