Max Verstappen opens up on whether he will train his kid to be an F1 driver just like his father did

Max Verstappen claimed that he would not 'advise' his child to become an F1 driver and would only train him if he saw the same potential that his father saw in him.

The Red Bull driver is currently dominating the sport and has had a storied journey into F1 with his father, Jos Verstappen. The Dutch driver was a child prodigy but endured a tough upbringing owing to his father's nature in his junior years.

The three-time world champion has spoken multiple times about his father's 'tough love' nature and how it molded him into a ruthless driver on the track. In an event during the Chinese GP, Max Verstappen was asked if he would follow in his father's footsteps and train his child to become an F1 driver. He replied:

“I'd advise him not to. No, if he or she wants to race and I see the potential I would go for it. I would never actively push. You shouldn't push your children into something you like. They might not like it and all the effort is for nothing.”

Jos Verstappen reflects on his approach to Max Verstappen's upbringing

Jos Verstappen stated that he never 'abused' Max Verstappen while growing up despite the rhetoric behind it.

As per Marca, the former F1 driver said in the Verstappen documentary Atonamy of a Champion:

"There are people who say I'm a bad father because I abused my child, I never abused him! I raised him, I was hard on him. That was my plan, many people cannot imagine what it takes to reach the absolute top level of a sport."

"I'm normally not a guy who really likes to open up about these kinds of things, but I think it does give you a bit more of an insight into how everyone lived through that period. But I knew his driving style. And I can see if he was making bad [choices] or driving bad, I could see it immediately. It woke him up. He needed that sometimes."

Despite the extreme nature of his upbringing, Max Verstappen has always defended his father and his junior years as he believed that it shaped him into the driver he is today.

It would be interesting to see if the Red Bull driver would consider having a different approach to raising his child and helping him pursue a career in motorsport as Jos did.