“We now know what we did it for,” Jos Verstappen happily reflects on the sacrifices made by Max Verstappen during his childhood

“We now know what we did it for,” Jos Verstappen happily reflects on the sacrifices made by Max Verstappen during his childhood

Jos Verstappen (Left) & Max Verstappen (Right)

The racing history in F1 in the Verstappen family dates back to 1994, when Jos Verstappen, Max Verstappen’s dad, joined Benneton to race in the sport. Although he never scored a race victory, after the birth of Max, he saw the racing talent in him, and was keen to get him into the world of racing, and so he did. The young Verstappen’s karting days started when he was merely 4-years old, under the supervision of his father who had the experience of cars and racing. But to get into racing is not always so easy on families. 

Watch: Max Verstappen Karting 2009 | vpro Holland Sport

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With a tough career for Jos, many criticized him for getting his son into the exact same thing, because not only was it ‘dangerous,’ but also not easy financially; racing is expensive. But he did not stop with his son, he knew the talent Max had in himself, he won 49 out of the first 50 races in his life, which was quite remarkable. Jos quoted that he never wanted to be dependent on others for Max’s racing career, and wanted to support him all by himself and his family, in those ‘extreme times’ for the family. 

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Jos Verstappen and Max Verstappen in his early karting days
Jos Verstappen and Max Verstappen in his early karting days

Max made his F1 debut in 2015, and won his first ever Grand Prix in 2016, proving that his practice and talents had not gone to waste, and after his World Championship victory last year, it was enough for the world to see that all his father did in the early years came out to be fruitful. 

“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 in a very extreme situation,” GPblog quoted Jos, “But we now know what we did it for, ” he concluded. 

Verstappen leads the World Championship in the 2022 season as well with 208 points after multiple engine failures from his contender, Charles Leclerc, who follows him in 2nd, with a gap of 38 points. 

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