Jos Verstappen has justified his rough treatment of son and Formula 1 world champion Max by insisting their struggles they endured ultimately helped the duo achieve their sporting dreams.
Verstappen had already been considered a prodigy since he arrived in F1 with Toro Rosso, and his status was confirmed when he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix in his first race with Red Bull. However, his journey to the paddock in the pinnacle of motorsport began when he was just four years old.
Jos was competing in F1 himself at the time but focused his energy on bettering his son’s opportunities, laying the groundwork for a successful career in the sport. However, the 50-year-old has received criticism recently for being too harsh on the Red Bull star.
Verstappen has often praised his father’s role in his development, commenting on how he played a critical role in his journey to F1 stardom. However, in a recent documentary ‘Whatever it takes’, Verstappen revealed that once Jos left him alone at a gas station for hours because he made a mistake in a karting race.
The 24-year-old also suggested his father would repeatedly tell him he would never become world champion, declaring he would be driving a ‘truck or a bus’ rather than an F1 car in the future. However, Jos would also assist Verstappen in his karting career, with the young Dutchman winning his first race when he was just seven years of age against competitors who were as old as 11.
In his first fifty races, he crossed the finish line 49 times. It continued like this until 2013, when Verstappen became the youngest champion in the highest kart class at 15 years old.
As a result, Jos believes his harsh treatment of his son - combined with their hours and hours of work during his karting days - was justified when Verstappen emerged from his fiery, controversial and epic rivalry with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in their 2021 title battle that captivated sports fans around the world. Talking about their battles at factory level, Jos said: “We did everything ourselves, while we had to compete against factory teams. But we didn’t want to depend on others.
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“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.
“Of course, people have said at times: you’re not right to be doing this. And when I look back on it now I realise that we were extremely busy.
“We now know what we did it for.”
The 22-race F1 2022 campaign continues with the French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard on July 24.
