The motorsport community suffered a massive shock earlier this year when 18-year-old Dilano Van ‘t Hoff tragically passed away following a massive accident during a wet Formula Regional European Championship race at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps. Max Verstappen was one of the many drivers who offered his condolences to the Dutch teenager’s family.
However, Dilano’s death became really personal for Verstappen after the teenager’s sister told him that his brother was a huge fan of his. It was at this moment that Verstappen was in a real shock. Soon after, he gave an interview to Formule1.nl Magazine to explain how Dilano’s death affected him severely.
“I saw that Dilano’s sister had responded under my post: ‘Max, you were his great example. Thank you for this message.’ That reaction did something to me. Then I immediately think of my family: ‘ Shit, if this had happened to me, they would have … ’ Then you think: F**k”.”
However, the Dutchman also made it clear that risks are a part of life. He believes that without taking the risks that come with competing in motorsports, he wouldn’t’ve have achieved what he has so far in his illustrious career.
The three-time champion then added that his girlfriend, Kelly Piquet, also understands the risks of motorsports since she herself comes from a family of racers. Her father, Nelson Piquet Sr. is a three-time F1 champion. Moreover, her brother, Nelson Piquet Jr. was also formerly an F1 driver.
Max Verstappen explains how he understands the risks involved in F1 better with age
In the same interview, Max Verstappen also explained that he himself perhaps did not understand the risks involved in F1 thoroughly as a teenager. However, as he has grown older, he believes that he thinks more often about what could be the “possible consequences” of his actions.
He gave his own example of his time in F3 to illustrate his point. The 26-year-old stated that when he was driving in F3, he would take risks to overtake his rivals which he most likely would avoid now in F1.
When it comes to the risks involved in F1, they are well-known by most. Several drivers have unfortunately lost their lives because of tragic crashes even in the recent past. The most recent drivers to lose their lives due to accidents were Jules Bianchi and Anthoine Hubert (the latter in F2).
Bianchi passed away several months following a tragic crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. Meanwhile, Hubert passed away following his accident at the 2019 F2 race in Belgium. Verstappen and Kelly Piquet too, are more than aware of the dangers that come in motorsports.
Back in 1992, Nelson Piquet Sr. suffered a horrific crash during an Indy 500 race. As a result of this accident, the Brazilian suffered serious injuries to his legs. More recently, the likes of Romain Grosjean and Zhou Guanyu have also had massive accidents but have fortunately escaped relatively unscathed.
