Max Verstappen: World champion already considering life beyond F1
The 25-year-old Red Bull driver takes no prisoners on or off the track, frequently pushing his car to the limit, and has raced against other drivers, even within his own team.
The 2021 season marked his emergence as a bonafide superstar in the sport.
Verstappen isn’t one to pontificate about his accomplishments – “we want to keep winning … so anything less than that, of course, is a disappointment,” he points out in New York.
Mateschitz’s death has clearly had an impact on Verstappen, who says “Austin has been a very difficult weekend for us, with the passing of Dietrich, basically the man who created everything for us… the only thing we could do this weekend was, of course, to try to win this race, which we luckily did.
“And then we won the builders’ award [Championship]so there are a lot of emotions running through your mind and in general for the team throughout this weekend.”
winning mentality
His father Jos, himself a former F1 driver, coached his son so much he said ‘Max was my life project’ and ‘I did more for Max’s career than my own career’ – not to mention to be an intrinsic reason his son became the sport’s youngest competitor at just 17 for Toro Rosso in 2015.
F1’s youngest points scorer then became its youngest race winner the following year on his Red Bull debut.
Senior Verstappen’s approach has not escaped the Red Bull star, who admits his desire to win stems from his father.
“I think that’s just in general, the mentality that we have in the family,” he notes. “How I grew up as a little kid and spent so much time with my dad going to all the racetracks. So I guess a lot of those things still have to do with how you were raised.”
Father and son will have three opportunities to discuss and dissect the upcoming season on American soil as F1 continues to make inroads in a crowded market.
This is largely propelled by the popularity of ‘Drive to Survive’, which Verstappen avoided last season due to concerns over how he was portrayed – he has since reversed his position and will be part of season five, which debuts later this month.
Verstappen acknowledges that the sport is having its moment in the United States.
“We are growing, the United States is a very big country,” he explains. “And I think that’s a very important market for the whole of F1 and I’m very excited, of course, to be racing at three different circuits.”
When asked what interests him most in Vegas, Verstappen replied that “it’s more just the craziness it brings – like everyone wants to go. Everyone expects a lot. And on my side , I just hope it’s going to be an exciting weekend.”
And yet, despite back-to-back titles, becoming the Netherlands’ first world champion in the process and claiming 35 Grand Prix victories in his eight years in the sport – enough for sixth place on the all-time list , with the legendary Ayrton Senna’s mark of 41 wins set to be surpassed this year – Verstappen is by no means certain of staying in F1.
It’s even on the record that he doesn’t see himself driving until he’s 40.
When pushed on his reasoning, Verstappen explains that “the problem is that we travel so much and it becomes more and more … basically the question is, ‘Is it worth spending so much time away from family and friends chasing more success?
“And I mean, I’ve already achieved everything I wanted in Formula 1. But I know I have a contract until 2028. I’ll be 31. It’s still quite young, but as I I said, I also want to do different things in life.”
Whatever scares Verstappen, perhaps the only thing his teammates have to worry about is the fear that the world champion will change his mind about calling him a day sooner rather than later.
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