Jos Verstappen explains how he trained Max Verstappen as a young kart racer and the struggles they went through to achieve their goal.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is a prodigy in Formula 1. His love for racing started when he was only four years old.
His father Jos Verstappen who himself was competing in Formula 1 left everything behind to focus on his son’s career. Jos saw what Max was capable of and dedicated his life to his son’s development.
Recently, Jos came under fire for being too harsh on the reigning world champion. The 24-year-old has often talked about how his father played a crucial role in shaping his F1 career.
However, in a recent documentary ‘Whatever it takes’, Max spoke about particular incidents from his childhood. He revealed that once Jos left him alone at a gas station for hours because he made a mistake in a karting race.
Max also shared that his father repeatedly bashed him and told him that he would never become a World Champion, and would be driving a ‘truck or a bus’ in the future. F1 fans did not agree with Jos’ parenting.
Now Jos has justified his harsh treatments and said, “We did everything ourselves, while we had to compete against factory teams. But we didn’t want to depend on others.”
“I do not say that I immediately had all wisdom, but I have become wise through trial and error. I was working on it seven days a week, at least twelve hours a day. It felt like a hobby, but I still wanted to win everything.”
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Max Verstappen knew how to win in his younger years
Jos revealed that Max was four when he saw that his friend named Stan who was the same age was allowed to drive. So the young Max began to cry and Verstappen Sr immediately bought a go-kart for him at home.
Max won his first race when he was only seven years old against competitors who were as old as eleven. In his first fifty games, he crossed the finish line 49 times. In fact, it continued like this until 2013, the year in which the Dutchman became the youngest champion in the highest kart class at 15 years old.
Jos recalled being exhausted due to the hectic hours. He revealed that he would lay down on the workbench for a few hours before continuing again.
“Of course, people have said at times: you’re not right to be doing this. And when I look back on it now. I realize that we were extremely busy.”
Now, Max is successfully a world champion having pipped the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, in a fierce battle in 2021. Jos concluded, “We now know what we did it for.”
Also Read: F1 Twitter bashes Jos Verstappen for mistreating Red Bull ace during childhood
