Former racing driver Jos Verstappen revealed his son Max Verstappen’s thoughts on him when he started his racing career.
Max became world champion at the end of the 2021 season. Although he seems like a complete driver at the moment, it wasn’t always the case. In fact, until the beginning of 2021, he was not considered to be a great qualifier.
However, his title-winning season saw him take ten pole positions. To put that into perspective, he has 13 poles to his name, so a large chunk of it came this season. Combining that with his ferocious race pace was the key to his success.
Jos revealed Verstappen’s thoughts on him back when he was a young lad trying to make it big, and explained their relationship during his son’s early racing days.
“I even hung over the pit wall in Formula 3 to encourage him to go faster,” he said in an interview with CarNext as quoted by Planet F1.
“I have to say, it helped. He saw me as a lunatic. Hanging over the pit wall. Luckily, he doesn’t need that now. It’s in him and he brings it out now. He knows how to qualify.
“At the beginning of his career in Formula 3, he had to search for that perfect lap. He has improved enormously in Formula 1. Now he is the man to beat on the track.”
Searing pace
Picking his best lap of 2021 is a difficult task, but it has to be his pole position at Abu Dhabi. He crushed the opposition with a flawless lap aided by a huge tow.
“I think that was one of Max’s best laps of the year,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.
“The tow (from teammate Sergio Perez) – even on the following lap that we got him to back off on, he matched the time – the tow was probably worth a tenth or two, not half a second.
“His last sector, when you look at the level of downforce he’s got on, is absolutely insane.”
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