Our next book is a bit out of our league. But this one we couldn’t pass up, we thought.
Max Verstappen arouses the sympathy of most Belgians. After all, he grew up in our little Belgian country. Max was born on 30 September 1997 in Hasselt, the son of Dutchman Jos Verstappen and Belgian Sophie Kumpen.
Max drives with a Dutch racing licence because, in his own words, he feels more Dutch than Belgian. Not surprising since he spends more time with his father. Also the entourage that surrounds him are mainly Dutch.
Max’s motor racing career started at the age of four when he got behind the wheel of a go-kart for the first time.
The book clearly highlights the important role his father played in supporting his racing ambitions.
You might expect that Jos pushed his son Max to go into racing. If you read the book you will notice that the opposite is true. The ambition to drive and the urge to win are apparently innate to Max.
Max apparently took to karting well with a first Belgian title in 2006 and the World Championship in the top category KZ1 in 2013.
From karting it went to his first single seater which he found at Formula Renault. Just 12 months later, we write 2014 Max sat for his first tests in an F1 car at Scuderia Toro Rosso (Red Bull’s Junior Team).
Then the fairy tale really started for Max because after his debut in Australia, he managed to finish in the points ten times over the entire season at Torro Rosso in 2015.
The transfer to the main Red Bull team in 2016 was a logical consequence. That he would win the Spanish Grand Prix, however, and thus crown himself the youngest F1 winner, is close to a miracle.
In the three seasons that followed, Max proved that he was gradually coming of age. With seven victories and a third place in the world championship in 2019, he showed the world his talents more and more.
2021 would be the year of truth. If anyone could remove Lewis Hamilton from his throne it would be Max. And even though there was huge discussion around the last race, Max was the better one over the whole year.
The initial edition of this unauthorised biography of Max Verstappen was first published in 2016. This new version is completely up-to-date, including the exciting 2021 season.
Author: André Hoogeboom
320 pages – 80 photos
ISBN: 978-1-910505-75-5
Publisher: Evro Publishing