Max Verstappen reveals his dad left him at a petrol station as a teenager following huge bust-up after he ‘threw away’ a race
- Jos Verstappen has been closely involved in the F1 career of his son Max
- The pair have not always seen eye to eye and have clashed at times
- Max remembers a specific argument he had with his father in 2012
Max Verstappen remembers a big argument with his father, which left him at a gas station.
Verstappen won his fourth F1 world title this weekend at the Las Vegas Grand Prix and has dominated the sport in recent years.
His father, Jos, a former F1 driver himself, has guided him every step of the way, but their relationship has not always been perfect.
Max, 27, has now opened up about the time Jos raced away without him after losing his chance to win the World Karting Championship as a teenager in 2012.
“That was my first chance to win the World Championship,” Max explained on Viaplay’s Max Verstappen: Anatomy of a champion documentary.
‘I stayed in the lead at the start, but then I was passed. I was so upset that I tried to take the man back to a place that wasn’t needed [and spun off].
Max Verstappen (left) remembers an argument he had with his father Jos (right) more than ten years ago
Jos was so angry with Max because he had lost a race that he left his then teenage son at a gas station
Max is now a four-time F1 champion after taking his latest title this weekend
‘My father was so angry with me because he made that stupid move. I basically threw everything away. Of course, I was very sad and angry with myself for making that mistake.
‘Then I tried to talk to him in the van on the seventeen-hour drive home. He didn’t want to talk to me. He was just so tired of it. He says, “Go away.” He stopped at the gas station and said, “Go away.” And he drove away.’
Jos is known for his hands-on approach when it comes to Max’s career and has not been afraid to ruffle some feathers at Red Bull over the years.
Reflecting on his rise to the top, Max revealed that his father has always been demanding, and this has caused some friction between the pair.
He added: “My dad, it didn’t matter if it was cold, hot, dry or wet, he was out there [saying] like, “Every lap you make a mistake in that corner, you’re not doing it right,” this kind of thing. I’m always trying to continually improve, you know? And sometimes it got a bit tense.’
Jos has been criticized for his upbringing, with some even suggesting that his treatment of Max in his younger years amounted to abuse.
But Jos has refuted these claims and explained in the documentary why he has always been so hard on his son.
“People say how bad a father I was to him, to abuse your child,” Jos said. ‘I never abused him, I taught him.
‘I was hard on him and that was the plan [for him]to learn, to think. Many people have no idea what you have to do to reach the top of a sport.’