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Verstappen failed to keep promise to race engineer: 'I'm disappointed!'
- Nicole Mulder
Max Verstappen considered naming his new cat "GP" in honour of his racing engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase. However, the Red Bull Racing driver ultimately chose a different name after Penelope, the daughter of his girlfriend Kelly Piquet, didn’t like the suggestion.
Max Verstappen didn't keep the promise
Lambiase had previously told Sky Sports that Verstappen had promised to name the cat after him, but the Dutchman ultimately chose the name Donatello, shortened to "Donut" by Penelope. "I'm a little bit disappointed. I think he just grabbed a new cat, and he was saying he was going to call it GP, but he has called it Donatello or something stupid like that,” the Brit joked.
Verstappen explained why he didn't keep his promise to Lambiase, telling Sportskeeda, "Yeah, because Penelope, I asked her, what do you think of the name? She really did not want to call a cat GP, so we had to go for a different name." He also humorously added, "Lambiase does have similarities to a cat: 'They're all the same. If they would have been big enough, they’d want to kill you.'"
While Verstappen’s love for cats is clear, he also revealed that he's more of a dog person. Why does he not have a dog? "I am a dog person. I grew up with dogs and cats, just that cats are a bit more self-sufficient at home, you know, and when I'm travelling a lot to take care of a dog, it's like a child. So it's a bit more difficult.”
Unlike Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen wouldn’t want to bring his dog to the paddock. "No, even if I had a dog, I wouldn't want the dog to come here because it's very stressful. Everyone wanting to touch him, it's not nice for a dog," he concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon
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