Max Verstappen is one of F1’s best drivers, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t excel in things away from the track. A recent video compilation that surfaced on X proves that the Dutch driver is also a huge geography nerd, as he aced every single challenge thrown at him.
In the first part, Verstappen was tasked with pinpointing F1 racetracks on a Zoom whiteboard. Impressively, he identified every single track correctly. Another challenge followed, where the 26-year-old had to place pins on a World map to mark a random set of countries. Once again, he excelled, scoring over 70 points. This is well above what the average score was.
The compilation continued with footage from F1’s Grill the Grid: Geography Challenge. There too, the Red Bull driver answered most questions correctly.
it’s him https://t.co/cpv3aTz16x pic.twitter.com/l8RDo6hECM
— lu ️ (@scuderiabulls) June 2, 2024
Further parts of this compilation featured a capital cities challenge, and a game where he had to guess whether a name given to him was a ‘dish’ or a ‘city’. Unsurprisingly, Verstappen aced both.
An F1 driver being so good in geography could surprise some. But the reason behind his brilliance lies in his childhood interests. In an interview last year, Verstappen revealed that he was always fascinated by maps. “I never had any posters of Champions in my room as a kid. Just a map, and I would try to place the capital cities on it.”
Verstappen’s interest in geography at home wasn’t limited to himself. In 2018, during a Red Bull quiz, he revealed that he and his sister Victoria shared a mutual love for this field.
Max Verstappen believes his sister could’ve been as good as he is
Geography knowledge aside, Verstappen comes from a family that loves racing, and it includes Victoria. Their father, Jos, always devoted a lot of time and effort into nurturing their talent in racing. Victoria had the chance to follow in the footsteps of Max and Jos; she certainly had the talent to do so, but she chose not to.
In an interview with Race Fans, he said, “She just didn’t want it enough. She liked it, but not enough to fight for it, be fit, be ready.”
Victoria chose a different path instead. She wanted to become a mother, and later pursued her dream of being a fashion entrepreneur. Currently, she is thriving in the latter, with her account on Instagram having more than 312K followers.
