‘Pure thug’ Jos Verstappen singled out for creation of ‘biggest beast in F1’ in Max Verstappen

Jos Verstappen has been praised for creating F1’s ‘biggest beast’ in his son Max, a driver hailed also as a ‘gentleman’.

Long-time Ferrari stalwart Gino Rosato, a close friend of the Verstappens and also godfather to 2007 F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen’s son, has said Jos Verstappen’s occasionally criticised parental methods resulted in creating F1’s most formidable driver.

Gino Rosato: Jos Verstappen made Max a gentleman and a great driver

Since Max Verstappen’s arrival in Formula 1, his father Jos has come in for occasional criticism for taking a heavy-handed approach to bringing his son up through the motorsport ladder.

The most infamous story pertains to Verstappen, while still in karting, being briefly left behind at a petrol station after a mistake in a race cost him victory, a story that is often pointed at as being overly harsh in raising a child.

Last year, Jos explained that the circumstances of the story had been a little different, revealing that he and Max simply had not spoken for a week following their arrival back at home.

A documentary on the rise of Verstappen saw Jos address the criticisms, in which he said: “People say how bad a father I was to him, to abuse your child.

“I never abused him, I was teaching him. I was hard on him, and that was also the plan [for him], to learn, to think. A lot of people have no idea what you have to do to arrive to the top of a sport.”

Rosato, a former veteran of Ferrari stemming back to the 1990s, knew Jos from the Dutch driver’s time in Formula 1, including a stint as Michael Schumacher’s team-mate at Benetton, and spoke about the relationship between Jos and Max when he appeared on the Pitstop podcast.

“[They] were coming around [the paddock] when [Max] was young and all this… I think I remember them more than they remember me when they were young,” Rosato recounted.

“But Jos is a pure, pure thug. Don’t f**k around with Jos. He’s a pure guy. He’s an honest guy. He’s old school, and what are you gonna tell him? ‘You did bad’?

“You created the biggest beast on the face of Formula 1, or one of them, for sure.

“You put s**t in the garden, the flowers grow.

“And he made a gentleman. He made a great driver. But with old work ethics.”

Jos’ decision to raise Max with a less delicate approach is one that has paid huge dividends for the Verstappens, with the 27-year-old now on four world championship titles and counting.

Rosato said that Jos forcing his son out of his comfort zone is an approach that not many parents engage in nowadays.

“I think this is what this world has lost a little now,” he said.

“I think when I see people being parents today, they’re just babying all the time. And ‘Oh, what does he need?’

“Jos doesn’t come from that school. ‘F**king figure it out. Let’s go. You want to be the best? This is what it takes’.”

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As for the criticisms levelled at Jos over his parenting style, Rosato said that it’s “human nature.”

“When you’re on top, they’re all aiming at you. You did this. They’re all looking for their particulars,” he said.

“But, let’s be honest, after Michael, he’s been the best driver hands down. But then you see them off track.

“Max is extremely similar to Kimi [Raikkonen]. He’s a bit more spicy, a bit more open-minded than he is. Kimi will suffer in silence, maybe lash out once in a while.

“But I could text Max right now, and he’s gonna answer me back within two minutes. That’s the same thing with Jos. These guys don’t come here, measuring people by the money or what you’re gonna bring them.

“They’re just pure nice people doing their job, creating a family story with a father helping out a kid and teaching him, ‘This is the real world’.”

Verstappen’s steeliness was addressed by Raymond Vermeulen, Max’s business manager, in the Anatomy of a Champion documentary last year.

“Sometimes I said, ‘Jos, you’re from a different planet’,” Vermeulen said.

“He said, ‘I know, but we have to do it like this to be successful. End of story’.

“I think Jos did everything with the right intention because he knew that Max was very gifted. He did it with all the love and all the passion. And he knew that route to success was a hard route.”

With Max Verstappen well-known for being a friendly and warm character, in stark contrast to his ruthlessness on track, his father revealed his pride with how his son has grown as a man.

“He is not arrogant, but direct,” he said of his son being a polarising figure in F1. “Yes, always standing up for yourself was part of my upbringing.

“We always talk about role models for young people. I ask now: What is more of a role model? If you act behind people’s backs or openly say what you think and always stand by your personal values?

“I can only say: How Max behaves in public, how he bluntly says his opinion – that makes me just as extremely proud of my son as his sporting successes. Many people don’t know the real Max. On the track, he is unconditionally aggressive, and he has to be.

“But in private, he is a calm, extremely balanced, friendly soul. Someone who wants harmony and who listens carefully and then draws his conclusions.”

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