The world can’t get enough of Max Verstappen and his dominance in the 2023 season. The Dutchman was in a league of his own, and many couldn’t help but wonder what the secret was behind this incredibly consistent and faultless output. Well, we don’t have the answer to that yet. However, Verstappen’s ex-coach revealed a story from the past involving Jos Verstappen, which gives us an idea as to why the Red Bull man is an elite among the elites.

Bradley Scanes joined Verstappen’s team in 2020 as a performance coach and stayed on till he became a three-time world champion. Scanes was responsible for Verstappen’s health in a holistic sense. During his time with the Dutchman, he was told a story of how his father, Jos Verstappen, used a cheeky tactic to make him fully aware of the machine that he was supposed to tame every time he took to the track.

Scanes was asked what sets Verstappen apart from the rest in the F1R the Girls podcast. Scanes revealed, “What cuts him above the rest, I think, there are a couple of things. – His feel for the car is like nothing I’ve ever heard or listened to anybody over the radio. His feel for the car and his feedback is tremendous. I listen to stories from him and his father. He talks about how his father would send him out in a go-kart and he would change something on the go-kart and Max would have to tell him what he had changed when he came back in.” 

Scanes added how this translates to now Verstappen being able to point out even the slightest change in the car as soon as he hits the track. This feel of the car is a skill that is developed over time and cannot be copied or learned at a moment’s notice. This is where Jos Verstappen was thinking light years ahead while training his son.

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This is also why he did not care if his son’s fingers were freezing off.

Jos Verstappen adds another tale to his questionable parenting skills in the quest to make Max the greatest

Some of the tales that we have come across from Jos Verstappen are truly concerning. The level of strictness the three-time world champion’s father maintained throughout his childhood would make many quit. However, young Max was determined and did not give up because of which he was bearing the fruit of his labor. Hard work and a lot of physical pain which we’re sure he would’ve felt because of the frostbite in Jos Verstappen’s tale.

“I remember he was probably 8 or 9. We went to the Go-Kart track and in wintertime, it was freezing. So I let the van run so that it could warm up. We did ten laps. He said Ahh!! Cold. I said, ‘Go, warm-up.’ Then three minutes later I was like, ‘where is he now?’ ‘C’mon, I’m still cold.’ I said ‘I don’t care, drive.’ He couldn’t move his fingers. But I didn’t care because I wanted to test things because I was building engines and chassis. I wanted to have a result. I wanted to move forward,” recalled Jos Verstappen.

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In the end, it worked and that’s all everyone will focus on. That was always the goal and if it weren’t for his father’s cheeky tactics or ruthlessness, who knows where Max Verstappen would’ve been now?