Verstappen's Father's Abusive Behavior Revealed By Gasly In New Documentary

Wednesday, 02 October 2024 at 09:59

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly revealed an example of Max Verstappen's father's abusive behavior towards his son from times before F1.

Red Bull Racing's triple World Champion, Max Verstappen, is the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen. Verstappen Sr has been one of the most (if not the most) influential people in the Dutchman's development as a racecar driver.

He would drive his son to all the competitions and be his mechanic and coach. Former F1 team principal Franz Tost said Jos taught his son everything he needed as a young boy and suggested the 27-year-old might not be where he is today without his father.

However, Verstappen Sr is infamous for being overly aggressive, harsh, and abusive towards his son. Why? Max Verstappen's rival Pierre Gasly revealed one example of how the Dutchman was treated by his father in the Junior series in a new documentary about Verstappen's life, "Born to Win." As reported by GpBlog, he said:

"After a race in Spain, I won, and Max finished second behind me. I come back, and his dad lost his s***, yelling in Dutch and insulting him in English words I won't repeat on camera, but they weren't nice."

"He grabbed Max's helmet, took it, and threw it at him, saying, 'No, get out! Go back to the tent! You can't even win one of your races!' So the pressure was obvious. It was intense pressure, race after race."

Jos Verstappen and Max Verstappen sharing an emotional moment backstage after winning the 2021 F1 Championship in Abu Dhabi.

Jos Verstappen's emotional moment with his son after winning the 2021 Championship title in Abu Dhabi

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Verstappen Sr himself addressed all the stories about him in a different documentary: "Anatomy of a Champion." He asserted that he never abused his son:

"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."