F1 News
Verstappen reveals how his dad pushed him to improve
Max Verstappen has said that his dad Jos urged him to improve at every chance he got on his journey to Formula One.
Jos, who raced for mostly backmarker teams in his eight-season F1 career, invested heavily in Max’s development as a driver and it has paid off, with Verstappen becoming the youngest ever race winner in 2016, and being one of the most talented drivers on the grid already, aged just 21.
Max revealed in an interview on his website: “From a young age, my Dad always drilled into me that you have to keep working hard. It’s not only on-track but also off-track you’ve got to always keep improving the car and yourself.
“You’ve got to use all the tools you have around you to try to find a better set-up or to try to find a way that makes you feel more comfortable in the car. My Dad was always pushing me to do that, to find extra performance.”
The Red Bull star also said that his father still plays a role in his driving now, but not he’s not as involved as he once was.
He added: “It’s more in the background now, but yeah, I call him every day and we speak about set-ups I’m thinking about from one session to another and stuff like that.”
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that he says ‘yes, that’s right’ or not, it’s more about giving him feedback and updates on what I’m doing, so that he knows what’s going on.”
“It’s always very helpful to have a Dad who knows a lot about what you are doing and who has done it himself. I always enjoy sharing those things with him.”