Max Verstappen has been through thick and thin with his father Jos Verstappen on his journey to becoming an impeccable F1 racer. Jos recently revealed an anecdote from his son’s karting days when he claimed that things were easy for the Dutch prodigy. However, Max rubbished that claim of his father.
This video clip on Twitter (now X) seems from a new Viaplay series on the three-time champion named ‘Off the Beaten Track’. In this clip, Jos said, “We didn’t have any sponsorship at that time. We were driving for CRG factory team.”
“They supported us with the chassis, tires, and fuel. The engines I did myself. So, we didn’t have to do anything like that, so it was an easy time for him.”, he stated.
jos: we didn’t have to do anything like that, so it was an easy time for him
max: that is bullshit.pic.twitter.com/aZSPQwblEl
— nini (@SCUDERIAFEMBOY) August 9, 2024
On this, the shot quickly cut to Max who said, “That’s bulls**t”. The 26-year-old Dutchman faced a lot of hardship on his way up the ranks in karting and car racing despite his father being a former F1 driver. While Jos was there to fully support his son, it all came down to Max’s talent on the track that opened doors of opportunities for him.
Now, the former Benetton driver had a lot of influence on his son’s ruthless demeanor. Verstappen Sr.’s tough love parenting has become F1 folklore, given the way his son has evolved into a relentless winning machine on the track.
Jos Verstappen’s tough parenting shaped the champion in Max Verstappen
Some anecdotes of Max’s childhood are quite famous and show how tough his father was. Once after Max lost a karting race, an angry Jos left his son at a gas station. Afterward, Max’s mother had to go and pick her son up. However, Jos did not speak to Max for a while after that race.
Looking back at similar incidents like these, Max feels it was a hard lesson for him and shaped him to be tough on the track. That is why, the three-time champion often doesn’t yield and goes ultra-aggressive while racing his rivals, as he has developed the tendency to not accept defeat.
Max said, “He [Jos] wanted me to be better than him and to achieve more than he did.” Precisely so, the 26-year-old has achieved a lot more than his father ever achieved in F1. Thus, Max gives credit to Jos immensely despite the tough parenting style his father adopted to shape him up as a champion.
