Jos Verstappen: 'That's why Max can overtake anywhere in F1'

Max Verstappen celebrates his 24th birthday today. In an interview with Speedweek.com, Jos Verstappen, his father looks back on the career of his son. Jos is proud of his son, who is in his seventh season in Formula 1 and is currently in a title fight with Lewis Hamilton.

According to Jos, there was no big plan in the first years. "Formula 1 was a long way off. You have to remember that in the beginning we were only in the Benelux. We had no idea how Max would perform against drivers from other countries. So you have to race internationally and at that level you could only do that if you were twelve."

Before Max came to Formula 1, Verstappen senior was the biggest Dutch name in the sport. He shared his experience with Max. "I tried to teach him as much as possible, even at kart level. There are so many aspects to consider - the driving itself, how you overtake, then tuning your car. Overtaking was a big problem for me, because you can also overtake in the wrong way."

Jos continues: "When Max lost time in an overtaking manoeuvre, I tried to explain to him how he could do it better. This went so far that I forbade him to attack on the straights or in places that seemed too easy to me. I said to him, 'You can only attack here, here and there, nowhere else'. And those were corners where maybe the others wouldn't attack. That's one of the reasons why in Formula 1 today we have the impression that Max can overtake anywhere. Max has trained this for years and made it his own during karting."

According to Jos, Max has an innate calmness. "It has always been like that. Of course you can point out a lot of things to him, but that inner calmness corresponds to his character, you can't train it. I know I'm not the easiest person to work with and I demanded a lot from Max. But he was able to endure it all. He has always been very strong mentally. With many victories, of course, he built up enormous self-confidence step by step. When you believe so strongly in yourself, that doesn't go away."