Max Verstappen has never shied away from opening up on his tough upbringing. His father, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, has been the biggest influence on his racing style. Jos has been a hard taskmaster and was always blunt in telling his son what he lacked. Some incidents Max narrated in the past sound harsh, but he thinks he deserved the treatment.

Despite starting the season on a low note, Max clinched the world title with 4 races to spare. The championship title came despite him being 46 points behind Charles Leclerc at one point in the season. Not only did he successfully defend his drivers’ championship title, but he also helped his team win the constructors’ championship with 3 races left in the season. His mesmerizing driving style hasn’t come easy, though.

Did Max Verstappen deserve the treatment doled out by his father?

Being the son of a former F1 driver, the interest in motor racing developed early in Max’s life. He started visiting the paddocks as early as when he was 2 years old. It wasn’t always smooth sailing though, when he started karting. His father would make him drive in difficult conditions when races would be abandoned because of rain. Sometimes he would even make his son race on older tires to teach him how to take care of tires. While these were crucial lessons, certain other incidents were far from ordinary.

Recently speaking with GQ, Verstappen Jr. opened up on the treatment he felt he deserved. “I mean, it sounds horrible. Like, it sounds a bit horrible. Like, some people probably cannot deal with that kind of behavior, but I needed it. I was that type of character, probably, who needed this kind of treatment.”

He continued, “Of course, from the outside it sounds sometimes a bit harsh. But I’m very happy that I had that kind of treatment.”

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A while back, Max narrated a 2012 incident when he lost the championship to a silly mistake in the final race of the season. He raced too hard and collided with one of his opponents. The incident did not go down too well with his father.

Max Verstappen opens up on the 2012 gas station incident

Following the race, Jos was driving Max back home in their van. Jos did not want to talk to his son, but Max kept trying to talk to him. Still angry with the incident, he dropped Max at a gas station several miles away from home.

On the Talking Bull podcast, Max narrated, “On the way home in our van, I wanted to talk to my father about what happened and express my own opinion about the accident. My father didn’t want to talk to me, but I kept trying to talk.” [Translated using Google]

He continued, “Then we had a fight and he stopped at a gas station and said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you anymore from the car’.”

Jos, however, clarified Max’s mother was driving a few miles behind them and he had no intentions of actually leaving Max at a gas station, 1242 miles away from home.

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Whatever treatment Jos made his son go through, it turned out to be successful. His son is a 2-time world champion at just 25 years of age and still has a lot to look forward to in his F1 career. With the dominant run he is having, the sky is the limit for The Flying Dutch.