The monster that Max Verstappen is today could only be born out of an extreme place of focus and drive. His father, Jos Verstappen, was the catalyst that matured a simple Dutch child into F1’s most dominant driver ever. The 3-time champion’s Emilia Romagna GP victory against Lando Norris by overcoming all odds is a brilliant display of his unbeatable prowess. Verstappen’s former ally has now revealed certain details of Jos’ ruthless coaching that led to this.

Fighting accusations of being ‘abusive’ towards his son, Jos Verstappen strongly defended his methods in 2023’s ‘Anatomy of a Champion’ documentary. “I never abused him!” he said, adding, “I raised him. I was hard on him.” Though the accusers still hold their stance, Enzo Mucci, a driver coach who worked with Max Verstappen’s F3 teammate, has broken his silence on this matter. Though he agrees that Jos was unbearably strict with Max, his methods paid off in the long run.

“I can also imagine how this went as a child with his father who sent him outside, regardless of the weather conditions and whether you had slicks or not. Just learn, learn, and learn,” Mucci said, as quoted by F1maximaal. “That has contributed to how good he has become,” he mentioned.

He further added, saying, “When you saw it, you thought he’s embarrassingly hard on his son, so I really had to walk away from it. It would break some children, but if you grew up like this and you’re not used to anything else…”, Mucci concluded, indicating the obvious mega pay-off from the seemingly controversial parenting.

In some clips from Max’s interviews, fans have noticed how he tells traumatic stories from his past nonchalantly. But because of some of those reportedly extreme methods, the Red Bull driver won in Imola despite feeling painkiller-like “broken”.

How Jos Verstappen’s “painful” regime helped Max Verstappen overcome Lando Norris in Imola

In the ‘Anatomy of a Champion’ documentary, Jos Verstappen revealed an unusual mental training method. He would make Max endure extremely frigid temperatures on his hands and then ask him to take the steering wheel to race. “When the fingers warm up again, that’s very painful,” Jos said, before adding, “I said ‘Ah, shut up’.”

Because of such extreme training, the Dutchman was able to hold off a menacing Lando Norris in Imola. After the race, he explained how the bumpy track caused immense pain to him. But he carried on anyway. “I’m just broken from the bumps, to be honest,” Verstappen said post-race. “My back, everything is hurting. It’s not so much from the physical side of things, but just it was so bumpy out there. Already after like 20 laps, I could really feel my back. So I’m just looking forward to laying in bed. Maybe take some painkillers. And a massage, I don’t know,” he revealed.

In those make-or-break childhood moments, Jos Verstappen’s parenting might have been terrifying. But looking back, everything has worked out perfectly for Red Bull’s three-time champion.