Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is the hottest property in F1 currently, with successive world championships and a 2023 championship lead allowing him to showcase his true driving potential.
However, back in 2014, Max arguably had a somewhat small crush on Toto Wolff’s wife Susie.
Susie Wolff was the last female participant at an F1 race weekend, having driven for Williams at the 2014 British Grand Prix free practice session.
Even back then, Verstappen was a big fan of Susie and even sent out messages wishing her good luck on social media, which have now resurfaced through one of Max’s own fans.
Twitter user Anja shared a compilation of tweets sent out by Verstappen back in 2014, which was the same year Max also made his FP1 debut in F1 at the Japanese Grand Prix.
While wishing Susie good luck before her big day is completely expected, especially since he himself was experiencing similar emotions that year, Max also sent her birthday wishes as well as commenting on her picture before she was off on holiday.
Very proud to step up to Official Test Driver with @WilliamsRacing in 2015. Onwards and upwards! pic.twitter.com/IBhlRbskmD
— Susie Wolff (@Susie_Wolff) November 28, 2014
Susie posted a picture of herself on Twitter, to which Max replied saying, “Enjoy :)”
Few would have imagined that Max would give Susie’s husband and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff so many headaches in the coming years, especially during the 2021 world championship.
Here’s your reminder that teenage max was a susie Wolff fan 🙂 pic.twitter.com/XY2BpquSCK
— 𝗮𝗻𝗷𝗮 ⁸¹ ¹ || famous era 🦭 (@mon_ca3) May 14, 2023
Toto and Susie were already married at the time, having exchanged vows in 2011 and are currently perhaps the biggest power couple of the sport.
Wolff, of course, went on to become team principal at Mercedes, while Susie paved the way for female drivers to believe that they stood a chance in a heavily male-dominated sport.
She also enjoyed a successful stint as team principal of Venturi racing.
Today, she is the marketing force behind the F1 Academy, a venture that features 15 of the world’s most talented female drivers as the sport looks to broaden its horizons in terms of better representation.
Verstappen, meanwhile, showed everyone his potential and class in his early days at Red Bull, but it was only in 2021 that the team offered him a car that was truly worthy of challenging for the championship.
It was one of the most intense championship battles in recent years with plenty of drama between Max and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton eventually resulting in a maiden championship triumph for the Dutchman, albeit in controversial fashion.
Ready to go on holiday! ☀️😎 pic.twitter.com/mELfBqc6PI
— Susie Wolff (@Susie_Wolff) August 4, 2014
Much to the delight of Red Bull, Max has not looked back since then, claiming the next championship while setting a record for most race wins in a season.
Five races into the current campaign, he leads the current drivers’ championship by 14 points over teammate Sergio Perez.