"He is smarter than me "- Jos Verstappen believes his 'little too hard' approach with Max Verstappen made him a 'better' F1 driver

Max Verstappen shares a special relationship with his father Jos Verstappen. The former F1 driver took it upon himself to train his son and in effect mold what we see today as a superstar of the sport.

Speaking to ServusTV, Jos was asked whether he felt that his son was a more talented F1 driver than he ever was. The proud father in Jos agreed unconditionally that Max was better. He claimed that even though he could teach his son everything, Max would not have succeeded if he did not have the talent for it.

The 50-year-old said:

“Absolutely. Also, I can teach him everything, but he must have the talent himself, and he has that. He is smarter than me and processes everything better. I really believe he is much better than me. I know when I look in the mirror what mistakes I made in my career. I try to filter them out with him.”

Jos was also questioned if he ever thought he pushed Max Verstappen a bit too hard when he was young. The former Benetton driver admitted he did feel he was too hard on Max but in the end, it was that training that made him better. He said:

“If you look back on that now, sometimes I was maybe a little too hard. In the moment itself, that felt like the right thing to do and maybe he needed it a little bit, too, because he is stubborn. I also really believe that it made him better. He needed that regularly.”

“In the following year it made him better again. He became World Champion, two-time European Champion, and had won all the races along the way. At all times he was learning a lot and I believe that makes him very mature for his age.”

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My father prepared me for everything!: Max Verstappen

The positive reinforcement that Max Verstappen consistently gives Jos was apparent in the aforementioned interview. The reigning champion was quick to admit that his father made sure he was prepared for every eventuality. Due to this, there hasn't been any situation in Max's career where he doesn't know how to handle it.

The junior Verstappen said:

“At some points, it was a hard school, but a fair one. He prepared me for everything. I never encountered anything I didn’t know how to handle.”

Both the Verstappen father and son duo share a special bond as together they rose through the ranks one step at a time up to Verstappen Jr.'s victory in the championship last season.