During the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend he entered into strong conflict with Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, publicly claiming that with his presence the team will be destined to explode. It is one of the last episodes of a career and a controversial personality who goes by the name of Jos Verstappenfather of the three-time world champion Max and who turns today 52 years old.
Born in the Netherlands in 1972, Verstappen Senior became national and European champion with karts at a young age, and then established himself, in the early 1990s, in single-seater categories such as Formula Opel and, above all, German F3. It was precisely these successes that brought him concretely closer to F1signing a contract with the Benetton as a test driver for the 1994. However, luck was on his side: thanks to an accident by second driver JJ Lehto in the pre-season tests, Verstappen had the opportunity to make his debut in the top series for the first two GPs of the world championship alongside Michael Schumacher, who that season he would then become world champion for the first time in his career. However, the withdrawals on both occasions pushed the Anglo-Italian team to recall the Finn, who definitively lost his place from the French GP onwards, with the stable return of Verstappen. As the season progressed, between performances below expectations and withdrawals (including one terrible fire in the pits during the refueling in the German GP), the Dutchman still managed to get on the podium twice in a row. The 3rd place in Hungary and the next one in Belgium will remain his best F1 placings.
Still under contract with Benetton in 1995, Briatore implemented a change in the line up, confirming Schumacher and replacing Verstappen with Johnny Herbert, who was increasingly fit after the accident in F3000 at the end of the 1980s in which he risked losing his life. The Dutchman thus passed to Simtek, but the team's financial difficulties forced the team to withdraw from competitions already in the first half of the championship. Thus began Verstappen's ordeal in second-tier teams, despite some notable performances. In the 1996for example, came 6th with the Footwork in Argentina, and then came close to the podium with Arrows in 2000 in Monza after three years dotted with retirements between Tyrrell and Stewart and a failure to participate in the 1999 World Cup.
After a 6th place in Austria again with Arrows in 2001, Verstappen's career in F1 ended definitively at the end of the world championship with the Minardi in 2003, for a total of 2 podiums and 17 points won. It went much better in 2008this time in the 24 Hours of Le Manswinning it in the category LMP2 together with fellow countrymen van Merkstejin and Bleekemolen. Having then dedicated himself to the career of his son Max, he was also at the center of controversy for some decidedly controversial behavior both towards the current Red Bull driver and in other contexts inside and outside the paddock.
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