“I enjoy it a lot”: Max Verstappen opens up on becoming a father

Max Verstappen opened up on his experience becoming a father, mentioning that there is "more to life" than just racing. Verstappen and Kelly Piquet announced the birth of their baby girl, Lily, earlier in May this year, prior to the F1 Miami GP.

Piquet and Verstappen have been dating for the past half-decade. They have been spotted together regularly during Grand Prix weekends and vacations. During the final weeks of 2024, the couple announced their pregnancy, and Lily was born later in 2025, as mentioned.

Although he has taken care of Piquet's first daughter, Penelope, becoming a father has been a new experience for Max Verstappen. He mentioned that he has always wanted children, and now, with a responsibility on his shoulders, he feels that there is life outside of F1, too.

"I always knew I wanted to have children, so having a daughter now is great. I enjoy it a lot. It probably also makes you a little more calm in life, more responsible, and makes you realize there's more to life than just Formula 1."

While Max Verstappen has been enjoying his time with his daughter, his life on the track has been a little out of the spotlight. Red Bull Racing failed to deliver a competitive car this year, and the Dutchman fell out of championship contention for the first time since the 2021 season. Despite this, he has managed to clinch multiple victories so far.

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Former F1 driver highlights how Max Verstappen won the race in Monza

Max Verstappen celebrates his victory in Monza, 2025 (Getty Images)

Verstappen put himself on pole position in Monza after setting the fastest lap in F1 history. This was followed by a race win, which turned out to be the quickest Formula 1 race as he crossed the chequered flag within 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 23 seconds.

All of this, with a car that is not dominating. The dominant forces of the grid this season, the McLarens, finished P2 and P3.

This was largely because of the RB21's setup. The car had an extremely skinny rear wing, and while it should have lacked pace on the corners, Max Verstappen managed to keep it competitive throughout the 53 laps.

2016 F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg suggested that Verstappen has become "smart" enough to work around the fundamental setup of the car. He claimed that it was he who suggested the team cut down the rear wing further, which enabled him to win the race.

"What what I learned about Max Verstappen is that he's also now becoming or has been, I don't know, so smart on that he actually does set such fundamental setup decision," Rosberg added.

"That's also a new facet which I hadn't seen so often yet. And that's impressive because that's probably one of the key ingredients to the win this weekend was his determination to push through his view on the setup which was we need to take more wing off and you know rear wing the simulation tells you where the optimum wing is."

Although this victory does not make him a contender for the World Championship, he now has the most wins of this season by a non-McLaren driver. Oscar Piastri still leads the championship standings, followed by his teammate, Lando Norris. Verstappen, meanwhile, sits in third place.