Max showed a distinct quality as a seven-year-old karter, according to Jos Verstappen, that informed him his son “had something special.”
Verstappen Sr, who raced in 107 Grands Prix, took the burgeoning young talent under his wing, supporting his karting attempts and honing his talents until he made his big break with Toro Rosso in 2015, becoming the youngest Formula One driver in history at 17 years and 166 days.
Six years and 15 Grand Prix victories later, the Red Bull driver leads Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 32 points in the World Championship.
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, began his career in the wild and colorful world of karting, with one particular attribute that his father noted.
“When he was seven years old, I saw he had something special,” explained the former F1 driver, quoted by Speedweek.
“He was always incredibly fast on the first lap on cold tyres. And when overtaking. You can see where someone can overtake, how he prepares it – Max was always very good at that.”
Once both the father and son were convinced of Max’s destiny, there was no turning back.
“For me, it was between 80,000 and 100,000 kilometres with the bus every year,” added Verstappen Sr. “I also prepared the engines, was a mechanic and a stay-at-home dad.
“That cost me a lot of time and money and I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t seen his talent.”
The former Grand Prix driver says that he was tough on his talented son at times while pushing him to develop a winning mindset.
“I do think it was tough for Max,” he said. “We didn’t go to the track to chase the others. We went there to win, and that’s what I taught Max.
“I always just wanted to win, win, win. That’s what I asked him to do.”
Jos remained involved in his son’s day-to-day motorsport activities until the end of his first year in Formula One with Toto Rosso, when he took a step back.
“I was fully involved, also to show Max how to work with the team,” said the 49-year-old.
“The nice thing is we still talk to each other every day Max drives. We call each other and talk about how things went and what’s going on.
“I also tell him my thoughts on it. I’m just telling him, he doesn’t need to answer, but I know he’s thinking about it. That’s the only thing I want.”
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