“I Really Thought I Was Gonna Die”: Even After Two Years, Max Verstappen Is Still Horrified by His Taxi Prank Experience

Sabyasachi Biswas | 07/08/2023
"I Really Thought I Was Gonna Die": Even After Two Years, Max Verstappen Is Still Horrified by His Taxi Prank Experience

During a recent interview with Max Verstappen on Channel 4, the interviewer teased the Red Bull driver about his taxi prank experience from two years ago. After the topic was brought up, Verstappen shared that he was still haunted by what he went through. Verstappen went as far as stating that he thought he was going to die.

In 2021, Channel 4 Sport organized an interview with the two-time world champion. However, prior to the interview, Verstappen was given a taxi ride and interestingly the driver was fake. It was Steve Jones, who disguised himself as the fake ‘taxi driver’. Overall, it ended up being a traumatic experience for Verstappen.

After the 25-year-old’s a taxi ride ‘ from hell’, the video segment instantly became viral all over the world. Now, Channel 4 Sport, arranged yet another interview with the two-time world champion. This time, however, they asked him to open up about the incident from two years ago.

Max Verstappen thought he was “going to die” during the taxi ride

Upon his arrival, Verstappen was asked about how he came to the venue for the interview. Hearing the question, the Red Bull driver instantly recalled his harrowing experience from 2021. He stated that he is still haunted by the experience that he had.

Speaking about it, the 25-year-old said as per Channel 4 Sports YouTube channel, “We’re not doing that anymore. Oh my god, that was horrible. At the time.” He added, “I really thought I was gonna die. I got blown up or something. It was really bad.”

Going back to the interview from 2021, nothing particularly serious happened to Verstappen during the prank segment, apart from him having to tolerate the taxi driver’s peculiar behavior. One of the weirdest moments involved Verstappen being deliberately confused as Michael Schumacher’s son.

Verstappen was confused as Mick Schumacher during the ride

During the beforementioned taxi ride two years ago, Jones intentionally referred to Verstappen as Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. Consequently, the 25-year-old was absolutely baffled by this.

Following this, he tried to make the driver understand that he was not Mick Schumacher, but Max Verstappen. He also mentioned his own father’s name, which is Jos Verstappen.

While Max Verstappen isn’t Schumacher’s son, it is fair to say that he is on his way to becoming one of the sport’s greatest ever drivers. From winning two back-to-back world championships to winning eight straight GPs, the Red Bull driver has been the most dominant star on the grid over the last few years.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Max Verstappen Michael Schumacher

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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