“Max thinks I’m crazy to take up rallying,” Jos Verstappen reveals his son’s take on his new adventure
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Max Verstappen and Jos Verstappen
Max Verstappen is currently the best driver in Formula 1, and him sitting on the top of the championship by 80 points just drives home that point. He made his debut all the way back in 2015 and impressed consistently. When he received a championship winning car in 2021, after years of Mercedes domination – he was ready, and despite a close fight from Lewis Hamilton, took home the trophy.
His father Jos Verstappen also drove in Formula 1, competing in 106 Grands Prix from 1994 to 2003, for teams such as Benetton, Arrows and Minardi. Having a father who had driven in Formula 1 obviously helped Max Verstappen, as he was able to help his son more with the experience that he had, and he was certainly one of the greatest supports to his son’s career.
After Formula 1, Jos Verstappen had also driven in other series, such as Le Mans. In 2008, competing in Le Mans LMP2, he won both the racing series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Recently, Verstappen Sr. has taken to rallying, and this weekend, he will be making his WRC debut.
Also Read: “Happy to see Hamilton at the front”: Max Verstappen ready for a potential Mercedes threat
Jos Verstappen reveals that son Max ‘understands and enjoys’ his rallying adventure
In a blog post by WRC, Jos Verstappen commented on his future debut: “I first drove a rally car maybe one and a half years ago and of course, from that point you just want more and more. So we started to do some events with the Rally2 car and DG Sport and then Ypres came up – and that’s why we are here. It’s a big step, but we really enjoy the rallying and we are here to learn. I am 50 but I am still learning a lot and I need the experience.”
This weekend’s Ypres Rally Belgium will be Verstappen Sr’s fifth rally, having earlier competed in the Belgian Rally Championship earlier this year. Speaking to Autosport, Verstappen Sr. said that his son has taken an interest in rallying and is following his father’s career: “He thinks I’m crazy. But he understands and he enjoys it. I have him on the phone every day. He likes it and he enjoys it as long as I have fun.”
In fact, Max Verstappen even tested his father’s C3 Rally2 car: “Once you have the feeling it doesn’t matter what car you drive. We had this trackday and he [Max] was very fast, I had no chance.”
Max Verstappen has, in fact, expressed an interest in rallying before. Back in June, when talking about his post-Formula 1 plans, Verstappen had said that we will not see him in the paddock again after his career, as he wants to do other fun things. He had pointed to the example of his father competing in rallies, but had also said that it’s currently too early to be doing that for fun.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)