Verstappen calls himself lucky: 'I wasn't forced to do that'

Verstappen: 'I kept pushing until I got a kart'

The now three-time F1 World Champion was eventually coached by his father Jos Verstappen but it was Max himself who wanted to get into a go-kart. "I was four years old and saw a kid younger than me already driving a mini-kart. I went to my father and told him I wanted to do it too, but he initially said no. He said I needed to grow up a bit more," he told GQ Italia.

"I kept insisting and six months later - with encouragement from my mother - I finally got my first kart," he added. Verstappen also saw things differently in his younger years. "I see so many parents pushing their young children towards something. My parents fortunately didn't: when they noticed that I really liked it, they helped me get better. I admit I was very lucky because racing was also their passion."

However, his parents both took a very different approach. "They are two different people, that's true. With my father, I spent a lot of time because we travelled for races: he was my mechanic, he built my engines and he was also my teacher. With my mother, the atmosphere was much more relaxed. She was always positive: she didn't tell me how to take a corner or shower me with advice. She preferred to tell me her opinion, which I listened to and took into account," said Verstappen, who says he has fond childhood memories of talking to his parents about racing at the dinner table.

This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton