Remember when Jos Verstappen left Max Verstappen at a Gas Station after an argument post-race? It was Max Verstappen’s mom, Sophie Kumpen, who picked the young Dutchman up. And while Jos Verstappen might seem to have been harsh on Max, it is the closest an F1 Father-Son pairing gets. Yet, Max Verstappen recently took a jab at his father for ending his mother Sophie Kumpen’s racing talent. 

Many think Verstappen was destined to be the dominant force in F1 that he has become. Both of Max Verstappen’s parents were racing drivers. Yes, Sophie Kumpen was indeed a very talented driver. Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard, once discussing the topic of the women driver who could’ve made it to F1, talked about Sophie Kumpen and how she had the talent to make it to the pinnacle of motorsports. 

Jos Verstappen sacrificed a lot of things and was harsh on Max Verstappen, but this was because he knew what it took to succeed at the biggest platform in Motorsport. However, Sophie Kumpen played an equally important role in shaping Max Verstappen’s future. In an interview, Kumpen suggested how she was told she had a very fluent style of driving and Max seems to have inherited the same from her. 

Nonetheless, the Red Bull star recently came out and spoke about her mother’s racing talent and how she wasn’t able to reach her full potential because she got married. Kumpen started karting at the age of 11 and raced against drivers like Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Nick Heidfeld. According to The Times, Christian Horner while talking about Max Verstappen’s mother said, “She was very good”, but Verstappen cut him short and added, “But then she got married to my dad.”

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Nonetheless, while Max Verstappen’s statement suggests his mom’s racing career was cut short because she got married, it is also to take into notice Verstappen’s opinion of his father. On that note, let’s have a look at what Jos had to say regarding the accusations of being harsh on Max Verstappen.

“That was my plan”: Jos Verstappen responds to accusations of being harsh on Max Verstappen 

What is that one animal that comes to your mind when you think of Max Verstappen? It’s the Lion, for sure. Fierce, ruthless, aggressive, killer instincts and the king of the F1 tracks. Many suggest that it was Verstappen’s upbringing and hard behavior from his dad that made him like this. But Jos Verstappen has come out to defend accusations of why he was hard on his son.

In the documentary Anatomy of a Champion, Jos Verstappen said, “There are people who say I’m a bad father because I abused my child, I never abused him! I raised him. I was hard on him. That was my plan. Many people cannot imagine what it takes to reach the absolute top level of a sport. I’m normally not a guy who really likes to open up about these kinds of things, but I think it does give you a bit more of an insight into how everyone lived through that period.”

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What is your take on the dynamics between the father and son? Also, do you think that Max Verstappen’s mother, Sophie Kumpen, could have excelled further in Motorsport? Let us know your view in the comments section.