![]() ![]() Max took part in his first kart race when he was seven. Also, we were competing against children two or three years older and that makes quite a big difference." "But you could see, compared to all the children of his age, he was definitely a lot further (on) than the others. "If he didn't have the talent, I wouldn't go so deep into it, because go-karts are very expensive if you do it internationally. That quickly became "let's get to Formula 1". Initially, Jos says, it was more a case of "let's see what happens". "So after one day of driving that thing, I bought him a mini-kart, which we had to adjust a lot because he was so small. They are not fast, but immediately he was flat-out everywhere and the thing was vibrating so much that the carburettor was falling off all the time. Driving with the van from Holland or Belgium to all the go-kart races all over Europe."Īfter the tears in Genk, Jos bought Max what is known as a baby kart. We grew up together, he was my go-kart mechanic. "Since he stopped racing in F1, he basically spent all his time preparing me in the best way possible. "Without my dad I wouldn't be sitting here right now," Max says. Once that became clear, his father then effectively programmed him as one, too. Max Verstappen - now 25 - was essentially born to be an F1 driver. What follows is a story of love and dedication, ending in the emergence of a driver of incredible capability and talent.Īn F1 driver father and an accomplished kart racer for a mother. "After that, I put 100% into his career, really," he says. By the end of 2003, Jos's own F1 career had fizzled out. "He was four and a half and there were younger people driving and he wanted to drive as well. Max was at a race track near their home in Genk in Belgium with family members. A couple of years after the garden incident on the quad bike, Jos was away at a race in Canada with his own kart racing team when his phone rang. I think that's a good age to start - at least they understand a bit better."īut little Max had other ideas. Jos says: "I didn't want him to start too early. They were a racing family - his mother Sophie Kumpen is a former top-level karter who as a teenager competed against future F1 drivers Jenson Button, Jan Magnussen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli. Max, as Jos puts it, "grew up with go-karts". Didn't matter whether it was a quad bike, an electric jeep - you know, the small things for children - or whatever. ![]() Luckily, he was wearing a helmet, which got scratched. "On the second or third day after he got it, he went on two wheels, had to adjust the steering and went side-on into the wall. The boy who became the man who ended Lewis Hamilton's reign as Formula 1 world champion in such dramatic fashion - and became a double world champion amid chaotic scenes at Suzuka on Sunday - was "in the garden every day on a quad bike," recalls Jos Verstappen, Max's father, a former grand prix driver who scored two podiums in a career spanning 1994-2003. ![]()
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