Michael Schumacher’s utter dominance over Jos Verstappen at Benetton gave Max Verstappen a ‘destroy teammates’ mentality

Max Verstappen is currently the hottest property at the pinnacle of motor racing.

Michael Schumacher’s utter dominance over Jos Verstappen at Benetton gave Max Verstappen a ‘destroy teammates’ mentality

Max Verstappen, Michael Schumacher, and Jos Verstappen (Via: Imago)

Max Verstappen, the reigning F1 world champion, is undoubtedly one of the best drivers of the modern era. He has been on an upward trajectory for a long time and recently, Toro Rosso’s (AlphaTauri) ex-manager, Graham Watson, has shed some light on how Jos Verstappen helped him develop a destroy your teammate mentality.

Jos Verstappen made his debut alongside the former 7-time F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher on the Benetton team. He was easily the second-best on the team as Schumacher led the outfit from the front with his performances.

At Benetton, Schumacher was given a preferential teammate and this is something, that propelled Jos to develop a top-driver mentality in his son. While talking about this, Graham Watson said, as reported by Formule 1:

Flavio had a strong bond with Michael, both sporting-wise and personal. That’s why I think Jos imprinted on Max very early on, that the first thing that you have to do is destroy his teammates. And we have seen that in recent years.

Looking at the reaction of Watson, it is quite clear that Jos Verstappen has played a crucial role in molding his son into the driver he has become today. Since 2021, Max has won the coveted F1 world championship three times.

Max Verstappen has the potential to break the F1 world championship record

While Max Verstappen’s father has had a big influence on his F1 career, the 26-year-old, himself has also put in the extra work to develop himself into a potent driver. From a very young age, Max was extremely competitive.

Helmut Marko, Max Verstappen and Christian Horner (via IMAGO)
Helmut Marko, Max Verstappen and Christian Horner (via IMAGO)

Moreover, this is one of the reasons why Red Bull decided to bring him on board during the 2016 F1 season. Since then, Verstappen has been competing in the sport for them and operating at an extremely high level. As things stand, he has so far managed to amass a brilliant three world titles.

The way his career is panning out at the pinnacle of motor racing, there is a very decent possibility that he could break Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher’s seven F1 world titles record. Max has a contract at Red Bull until the end of the 2028 F1 season.

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