SimplyAbuDhabi XLII

Here, again, is where he believes he can relate to Cruyff: in having a brain that, when applied to his sport, functions with a wider vision or capacity. “I do like to think that having extra capacity is a big advantage in F1 as well,” he says. “You cannot train that kind of thing. Only a few drivers have it.” Who else? “For me, definitely Fernando [Alonso] — I can feel that, from the way he operates in the car, picking up on little things, showing this extra capacity — still driving at the limit but thinking about other stuff as well.” He gives an example of how this works for himself: “I am talking to the engineer, but I am also hearing a pitstop by a Ferrari car. I asked, ‘Did they box? I heard that on the radio.’ But if you are fully focused on your driving, you probably won’t pick up it up because you are fully focused on his voice.” I ask if he feels he got his racing brain from his father, whose “Vercrashen” racing style is well documented, or his mother, Sophie Kumpen, who was successful in karting in the days when that was extremely rare for a woman. “They were very different,” he says. “My dad was more aggressive; you could tell it from how he was sitting in the go-kart and the way he was driving. My mum was more on the clean side. That has to do a bit with how much strength you have. I spoke to my mum about it and sometimes she was struggling a bit for strength; she was small compared to the guys. Then you can’t force the go-kart, you have to find another way.” He has watched footage of her and talks about it with pride. “It’s really nice to see,” he says. “She was racing against a lot of guys who ended up in F1.” One of the rivals she would beat was Christian Horner, who is now Verstappen’s boss at Red Bull. “That is quite funny,” he says. “I’ve spoken about that with him; he realised that my mum was faster than him.” Of his parents, he says he got more of his mother’s personality. “My sister is more like my dad and I am more like my mum, more calm. My sister is more of a strong character, fired up.” Of their driving styles, though, he says: “I was probably in the middle of the two. I am still aggressive but probably a bit cleaner [thanmy father].”He tends not to talk F1 and business with his mother but, “when we joke,” he says, “she might say, ‘Maybe your style is more like me’.” This brings us back to the beginning and the uncertainty of his long-term future. He is contracted with Red Bull until 2028. “At that point I am 31,” he says. “I still want to do other stuff while I am competitive.” High on his wish-list of “other stuff” is the deeply intriguing prospect of pairing up with his father in endurance racing. This is not a whim; they have been looking at Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona event, and the 12-hour race in Sebring, Florida. Equally intriguing is the development of their notorious father-son relationship and the fact that Jos — the F1 streetfighter — may be experiencing self-doubt. “I want to do it [endurance racing],” Max says. “It seems at the moment he doesn’t really want to. We are both very competitive. When we compete we want to win. My dad knows that he’s no longer how he was in his thirties. I think because of that he is a little bit scared — no, not scared — but if he feels that he is the one holding me back a bit, he doesn’t like that.” Jos is 51 years old and competes in rallying. “I think if I really work with him together,” Max says, “he is still in the window where you can win a race.” Thus are the tables turning. Jos brought tough parenting skills to his coaching of his son. And now? “I would probably react the same way to him — because that’s how we communicated all the time with each other and we know we can take it from each other. That’s why it works so well. “I already had a few test days with him in GT3 cars. You go through the data [afterwards] and you see a few corners where he is lacking. I’m like, ‘Why are you slow there? Why are you lifting? Come on, pull your finger out.’ These are fun days together.” They are. But they also have to be squeezed in around the F1 schedule. Squeezing an event in will be even harder. But Max Verstappen will try to make it happen, because what we are learning is that he isn’t all about F1, even if, right now, it seems that F1 is all about him. Simply Abu Dhabi | 135