JONATHAN MCEVOY: Max Verstappen’s racing genes selected him for stardom, and after sealing a third Drivers’ Championship, he looks to be a potent fighter for years to come

• Max Verstappen became three-time Formula One champion on Saturday
• The Dutchman claimed his third title with a second-place finish in the sprint 
• Verstappen was the youngest rookie ever, and forced the FIA to change the rules 

It is hardly a coincidence that Max Verstappen is the phenomenon he is. His ideal racing genes selected him for stardom.

His mother Sophie Kumpen, born 1975, in Hasselt, Belgium, was an extremely talented go-karter. ‘A fantastic talent,’ confirmed Jenson Button, world champion in 2009, and a one-time team-mate of Sophie, whose uncle and cousin competed with accomplishment in rallycross and endurance and saloon racing.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was another to go up against Sophie, in the 1989 Junior Kart World Championship. ‘She was top 10 in the world, for sure,’ he remembered.

Indeed, she was often as good as any boy, but there was a glass ceiling for girls in those days. Formula One was not a serious option.

As for Jos, he spent 10 years in grand prix racing, including as Michael Schumacher’s team-mate at Benetton on his way to gaining two podiums.

Max Verstappen has racing in his genes, including his father, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen (far right)

The Red Bull star secured his third consecutive world title during the Qatar Grand Prix sprint

Despite needing only to finish sixth, the 26-year-old clinched second place in the raceweekend’s sprint

The pair married on May 24, the Friday after the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, in a small service in Godsheide, a Flemish-speaking Catholic parish of Hasselt. He was 24; she was 21. The marriage was finally to dissolve in acrimony, but, crucially, before that Max Emilian Verstappen was born on September 30, 1997 (elder brother to Victoria).

Jos’s F1 career, which had promised more than it delivered, concluded when Max, already karting-mad, was seven years old. So Jos was able to devote his energy and expertise to protect and nurture the genius of his son.

Sometimes demonstrating hard love, Jos and Max worked out of their base in Maasbracht, half an hour’s drive from Maastricht, where their smart workshop was the focal point of Max’s young life, the place he learned about engines and race craft from his mentor.

‘I took the best of my father’s talent and left out the less good bits,’ Max said, alluding to Jos’s gung-ho streak, when I visited their old ‘HQ’.

Max’s rise through the ranks under the Dutch flag of his father’s heritage was prodigious, until he arrived in Formula One to make his debut with Toro Rosso in 2015, aged 17 years and 166 days, the youngest rookie ever. The FIA changed their rules as a result: 18 was introduced as the minimum age.

Verstappen’s skill and bullish speed has made him untouchable since claiming his first World Championship in 2021

He made his debut with Toro Rosso in 2015 aged just 17, and forced the FIA to change the rules

Raw talent was evident from the outset, the hoopla surrounding the teenage Max greater than that which accompanied any driver since Lewis Hamilton, then 22, arrived at the same track to begin his top-flight journey eight years before.

Verstappen has since added all-round dependability to his nascent brilliance. Yet he remains willing to get his elbows out when necessary. His maturity has particularly developed over the past two seasons, since taking the title so contentiously in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2021.

An expert witness of Verstappen’s blossoming is Nico Rosberg, who is here in the paddock working for Sky. The German tested himself against the best of his time Schumacher was his first team-mate at Mercedes before he went up against Hamilton. He learned from the former to equip himself to take on the latter.

He was never going to be Hamilton’s equal over the stretch, but the German steeled himself heroically to triumph in 2016 in what was essentially the Briton’s team.

Where does Rosberg place Verstappen? ‘One of the five greatest ever,’ he told me. ‘He’s up there with Fangio, Schumacher and Senna.’ He later mentioned Hamilton. But what makes Verstappen so good? ‘Natural talent – phenomenal,’ came Rosberg’s simple assessment. ‘And a high degree of confidence.’

Verstappen’s father (right) is a fixture in the Red Bull garage as he follows his son’s career

The Dutchman was at the centre of celebrations in Qatar as the driver claimed a third title

Yes, Verstappen backs himself to deliver no matter the odds. He also makes the art of driving simple. ‘Just two pedals and a steering wheel,’ he reasons.

Even Bernie Ecclestone, the sage whose memory goes back further than anyone’s, has ripped up his list of the finest. He attended the first Formula One race ever, at Silverstone in 1950, and has seen them all since. He told Mail Sport: ‘Max is the best driver ever. No doubt. I used to say Alain Prost. Now I would say Max. He doesn’t muck around. He gets right on the programme.

‘In my list he is above Lewis (Hamilton). Lewis is obviously super-super bright, super-super talented. Lewis understands people and gets the best out of them, whereas Max gets the best out of the car. He’s very different from Max. When Lewis stops racing, he can get into a different world – entertainment or whatever – but that won’t be the way Max could go. Max is one of us. In our sphere of Formula One nobody has a lifestyle or outlook like Lewis.

Bernie Ecclestone believes Verstappen has usurped Alain Prost as the best F1 driver ever

Red Bull are keen not to lose their main attraction, signing him to a contract until 2028

‘At school, I was a bit undersized, so I was a bit different. As was Lewis in a different way. When you are a little undersized, or whatever, you have to look after yourself. You have to be a fighter.’

Yes, there is a simplicity to Verstappen – a total focus, and a repudiation of the trappings of stardom, that suggest he will remain the most potent driver for seasons to come.

He is signed up – on £40million per annum – until the end of 2028, beyond which he makes no promises, hinting at racing for fun out of the limelight.

Those five years may seem like an eternity to his rivals.

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