Jos Verstappen looks back in anger and joy at Max's 2024 season
F1 NewsTuesday, 24 December 2024 at 07:30
Jos Verstappen has had a hard and honest look back on the 2024 Formula 1 season, one in which we witnessed his son Max become World Champion for a fourth time.
It is a well-told tale of how Jos Verstappen turned his young prodigious kid into the winning machine we see today, probably the greatest driver F1 has witnessed, using means at times that simply would not compute into today's woke world. Love it or loathe it, Jos's way delivered the driver we have today in Max Verstappen.
Jos was asked to sum up the 2024 F1 season. One in which Max won with races to spare in the end, but a 24-round contest that made him work hard for his fourth title.
But off track there was the Christian Horner 'sexting scandal' that resulted in very angry comments between the Red Bull boss and Jos; then came the Adrian Newey bombshell as well as a flurry of further high-profile departures that had Verstappen senior angry.
Until, of course, came the joy of his son winning the 2024 F1 World Champion title to make it four in a row, on a famous night in Las Vegas. These are the highlights of the Jos Verstappen interview:
2024 F1 season summarised by Jos Verstappen
Jos looking back on 2024: “Yes, exciting, of course. It became a completely different year than people thought at the beginning, but I indicated quite early on that things were not going in the right direction, also in terms of performance on the track. I felt it coming. I could not change anything from the sidelines. It was beyond my reach, but of course it was visible to everyone.
"This year is quite a contrast compared to the course of the previous season. Also in terms of experience for you, I think. Last season it was probably more relaxed for you to watch with the necessary distance.
"Absolutely. Now, at times I was eating myself up.
"Things just happened where you could see that things were going in the wrong direction in terms of performance. And then it was sometimes quite difficult not to pick up the phone and call that person. So yes, it was definitely difficult at times to deal with everything. We have had better seasons in which Max became champion.
“As a driver, you are always dependent on the car you get. Max had to work harder for it; that is certainly true. On the other hand, the weekends were, of course, also harder for him, certainly compared to an extremely successful year like 2023. Both on and off the track, it was a tough year. And an educational year? You just see a lot of things go wrong. Is that educational? Well, not for us.”
On Max's composure in the heat of battle and when under pressure...
Jos said: “He's smart. He has himself well under control and is just very stable in that respect. He also doesn’t care much about what is said and written about him. He hears and sees it all, but it doesn’t affect him. Of course, he is also constantly questioned about all kinds of things and therefore has to know what is going on. But I think Max always deals with that very well. He is in a good position and is mentally very strong.
"I always give Max my opinion, how I see things. But I don't really have to do that; we think pretty much the same. Max is not much different from me in how we think about things. He's just neater, calmer, and a bit more balanced.
"Fortunately, Max is outspoken and says what he thinks. I like that. And I think it's great in this sport. Look around you; not everyone does that. Many drivers beat around the bush and don't say what they think. Max is an open book."
On the friendship between Lando Norris and Max...
Jos explained, "It's going to be more difficult, I think. Of course, for a long time it was about the world title that was at stake. Max knows that's the case; he's also quite easygoing about it. He knows the dividing line between the mutual relationship off the track and on the track. He's very mature in that.
“If I look at my time in Formula 1, I didn't have any friends. At least not in a way that I kept in touch with them afterwards. Not at all. I choose my friends myself. I do have the impression that most of the guys who are on the grid now get along well off the track. Most of them have known each other for a long time, from karting.
"There are about ten guys he has always karted with. So they are a bit closer to each other, but everyone has their own life and does their own thing. Only, Max is a social guy off the track and is nice and normal to everyone. In my time, the relationships between drivers were quite different.”
When not at the track with Max, does Jos follow the Grand Prix weekend from afar?
“Definitely!" said Jos of following his son's escapades. "Even when I’m in a rally car, just before a test. Or between tests. Then I have my phone on the dashboard, in a holder. During the test itself, it’s off, of course, and then I’m focused on the rally.
"But I have to say, I can distance myself from Formula 1 better, and rallying certainly helps with that. You have a goal for yourself; that helps. I also enjoy it enormously, I have to say. I may have just started a bit too late, haha. But really, I think it’s great. Also because of the atmosphere around it. Relaxed, no whining. You can’t collide with another driver either, because you start a minute apart. I enjoy it.
“It’s incomparable to Formula 1. In Formula 1, there’s politics and a lot more to it. For Max, it’s all about driving the car hard, and that’s it, but you have to know what’s going on. I want to know everything myself. When I’m in the F1 paddock, I talk to everyone. Because if you have to make a decision at some point, you want to have all the information to make the right decision.”
Asked about Adrian Newey's comments after his departure from Red Bull that the British press is overly critical of Max, Jos replied: "He's been in F1 for a long time and sees it happening. He's right about that. Max doesn't care. He ignores them as much as possible and is above them. He's a bit shorter at press conferences; he doesn't say too much.
“Max only gets better from unjustified criticism, more irritated. That's how he is. We saw that in Brazil, for example. So let them do it. If you're talking about his way of defending, other drivers understand it. There was a world title at stake. And that McLaren sometimes disagreed, that's logical. That rivalry exists, on and off the track; that's good for the sport.”
On the issue of FIA stewards and officiating in F1...
Jos had this to say on the FIA: “I also discussed this with Stefano Domenicali. The stewards simply have to punish consistently. The same for everyone. Not one time a five-second time penalty and the next time a ten-second time penalty for the same offence. And why did Max get a community service order for the word Fuck and another a fine? The stewards don't know what to do anymore. I think there should be stricter rules in that area.
“It would help if there were a permanent pool of stewards. And no more former Formula 1 drivers, but just people who have more distance and fewer interests, but who at the same time understand what the sport entails. With the same stewards every time, you will also get more of the same decisions. More consistency is simply better. The FIA is up. They have to step up their professionalism.
"Choose a pool of permanent stewards and pay and value them well. Now they get a small amount to be at a race, and some do it because they can use the money. But I think you have to find people who are not dependent on that at all. In football you have FIFA referees; they get training and courses and are paid well. That should also be the case in Formula 1, of course. In this area the FIA can still learn a lot from FIFA.”
On the FIA vs. F1 drivers swearing saga...
Verstappen senior reckoned: "The FIA obviously overdid it with those penalties. You can’t give a penalty every time someone says f@ck. Do you know what I would have done if I had been the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem? I would have taken the drivers aside and said, ‘Guys, watch your language.’ But to play it all out like that through the media...
"The drivers also have egos. But talk to them and make it clear that they should use certain words as little as possible. And if it is used once, they should just blurt it out on TV. That's how it is, isn't it? Formula 1 remains an emotional sport; you shouldn't take the emotion out of it.
"And you can use fuck in different ways. The word is fairly common in many countries. And as long as you don't offend anyone with it, I don't see it as a swear word. It's just a bit childish of the FIA to put salt on every snail. They should also let the sport be the sport."
For the wide-ranging, in-depth full interview with Jos Verstappen conducted in Dutch, please visit Formul11.nl.
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