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“Calm Your Ts!”: Struggling Babysitter Max Verstappen Had to Fight Off Kelly Piquet’s 2-Year-Old to Protect His Precious ‘Toto & Lewis’

Published 12/12/2022, 8:15 AM EST

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via Reuters

We all know how good of a racer Max Verstappen is. But his babysitting skills, well, that is something he badly struggled with. As the Flying Dutchman had girlfriend Kelly Piquet’s daughter Penelope over, while he was streaming, chaos was sure to ensue.

Before dating Max Verstappen, Kelly went out with his fellow F1 racer Daniil Kvyat. The two had a daughter named Penelope, who was born in 2019. As Verstappen is tasked with taking care of the toddler, one thing he has to be extra careful of is his cats. Not because the cats could injure Penelope, but the other way around!

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In a 2021 video on YouTube, the Red Bull driver was playing Call of Duty Warzone with his friends. As the game was being live-streamed, fans heard Verstappen’s side of the adorable conversation with the then-two-year-old Penelope.

As Max Verstappen struggled to manage the two tasks, he was heard saying, Ah! Penelope easy, easy! You have to be easy. Don’t destroy them like that. Yeah, don’t hit the cat. Yeah, that’s a cat. Penelope hello. What are you doing? Calm your T’s.”

Verstappen’s teammates had a hearty laugh listening to their friend struggle with babysitting duties. The Dutchman was definitely more concerned for his beloved cats, Toto and Lewis.

The story behind Max Verstappen wanting to name his cats Toto and Lewis

The rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull is no secret to Formula 1 fans. The contest between the two teams is arguably the most thrilling one in the modern era of F1. As things get heated on the track, neither team’s bosses and drivers miss a chance to take a dig at each other off it. One of those instances happened during Verstappen’s live streams in 2021.

 

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A post shared by KELLY PIQUET (@kellypiquet)

As Verstappen was sim-racing his cats, Jimmy and Sassy crawled around the simulator’s pedals. Annoyed with the disturbance, Verstappen went, “F*ck off! No! Oh god.”

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Jimmy and Sassy then moved over to some wires and knocked stuff around. This made the Dutchman laugh and go, “we’ll call them Lewis and Toto.”

Later, in the stream, Verstappen revealed their true names and explained the meaning behind their names. He told, “Jimmy- because you’ve got Jimmy’z in Monaco, the club. And you’ve got Sass, so we call the female Sassy.” 

The names Lewis and Toto, however, stuck around since the stream with the fans.

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Watch This Story: Max Verstappen’s cute cats

Having grown up around pets, Verstappen’s cats are very dear to him. No wonder he is so protective of them.

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Written by:

Nischay Rathore

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Nischay Rathore is a Formula 1 Author at EssentiallySports. Being a law graduate, he has worked at the Supreme Court of India as well as the High Court of Delhi. However, due to his adherent love for sports, he has now set out to start his journey into the world of Sports Journalism.
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Edited by:

Varunkumaar Chelladurai