Max Verstappen raring to go in Japan Grand Prix
There was to be no visit to Geronimo Shot Bar, a dangerous location for the travelling Formula One pack, in Tokyo. Max Verstappen was already flat on his back before the first glass was tapped.
This affliction with the horizontal was merely brought about by illness, one he overcame in the steam-bath heat of Malaysia to win six days ago on the weekend of his 20th birthday.
Verstappen did so with a brave move on Lewis Hamilton followed by 52 laps of cool composure.
Youngster Max Verstappen is setting his sights on another huge Grand Prix upcoming in Japan
Then, he hit the sack. ‘I have just slept since coming over to Japan,’ said the Dutchman. ‘I was pretty dead. It came on the Thursday/Friday in Malaysia. I started to feel a blocked nose and headache. I was weak. It got worse. Then a very tough race made it even tougher.
‘It should have been a positive day after winning on Sunday, but I was ill. I am better now. I should be all right for the weekend.’
Sunday brings the Japanese Grand Prix on Suzuka’s storied track and some of his small entourage, whose tear-filled eyes dominated the celebrations, have returned to Europe: his father Jos, a veteran of 107 grands prix 20 years ago, his 18-year-old sister Victoria, and Jos’s girlfriend Amanda.
‘I could see them on the big screens as I was driving,’ said Verstappen. ‘Seeing my sister cry was especially touching.’
Verstappen caused shockwaves recently with his incredible victory at the Malaysian GP
The Dutchman staged an early assault and passed Championship leader Lewis Hamilton
His family lives, eats and breathes motor racing. As well as Jos, his mother, Sophie Kumpen, is a double Belgian karting champion. Max’s DNA is so pure he could be an experiment. In his spare time, he races on a simulator against friends.
But he does not cook. He is not learning a musical instrument. He does not own a dog. It is a life of devotion, though not anything like a monastic one if some stories are to be believed. ‘Old school,’ say some, though he will not talk about his private life.
His mother only comes to a few races a year, but back home she lights a candle every time he competes. And compete he does, his swashbuckling racing worthy of comparison with the flair of Gilles Villeneuve.
There are those who feel Formula One lost more than it could afford to with Villeneuve’s death during qualifying in Belgium in 1982. Verstappen, however, offers an echo of the Canadian’s elan, winning rave reviews that make him a contender for a drive at Mercedes or Ferrari when his current deal expires in 2019.
But which would he rather be: the glorified Gilles of all-out dash or the serial winner Michael Schumacher?
‘I can’t compare myself to anyone else because I am me,’ said Verstappen, sounding more like Ayrton Senna than the rest. ‘I don’t want to be Schumacher. I don’t want to be Prost. I want to play to my own strengths. I am aggressive, but it is how I am. Call it what you like.’
Verstappen couldn't hide his emotion on the podium and admits his sister was in tears
It was in Japan three years ago, aged 17, that he became the youngest driver to take part in an F1 practice session. Sitting in the Red Bull motorhome this week, it is clear how Verstappen has grown physically since. He packed on muscle over last summer and shed some puppy fat.
He has also sped through his life, having already spent two years living in the gilded cage of Monaco. He rarely sees his fellow drivers, though more of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and Williams’s Felipe Massa (playing football with his son) than anyone else as they live in the same building. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg is nearby.
‘We’re all on different schedules so you do your own thing,’ says Verstappen. ‘I invite friends over.’
People in his inner circle say he has retained the friendship of his mates from school, St Ursula, Maaseik, on the Belgian side of the border with Holland.
Not that the Monaco boys do not travel together. For years, Nico Rosberg organised their private jet — selling seats to his fellow drivers in an enterprise dubbed Rosberg Air. Now Verstappen, or more particularly his manager, Raymond Vermeulen, see to this task.
Mostly the travel is harmonious. But what if Verstappen is sitting next to a driver with whom he has been sparring on track? ‘There is no point going on about these things,’ he said. ‘Whatever the incident, it happened anyway and is over.
‘But Nico Rosberg talked to me once last year about an incident in the previous race when he had spun off. I am cool about it. People can say what they want. I race hard, but fair, and talking makes no difference.’