Max Verstappen has revealed an unusual childhood training method used by his father Jos Verstappen that helped develop the exceptional car control he displays in wet Formula 1 races. The four-time world champion spent years driving karts on slick tyres in the rain, while Jos Verstappen would even position himself at points on the circuit where his son risked hitting him.
Max Verstappen has long been regarded as one of Formula 1’s outstanding wet-weather drivers. Rain has produced some of the most memorable performances of his career, particularly at Interlagos, where his ability to find grip and control a car in difficult conditions has repeatedly stood out.
Max Verstappen’s famous wet-weather drives in Brazil
The 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix remains one of the earliest demonstrations of Max Verstappen’s remarkable ability in the rain. He eventually finished third after an extraordinary recovery through the field, producing a series of overtakes and one particularly memorable save when his Red Bull began sliding towards the barriers on the main straight. Formula 1 later described his late charge as a climb of 11 positions in just 16 laps.
Eight years later, Max Verstappen produced another exceptional performance at Interlagos. At the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, he started 17th and won in extremely difficult wet conditions, completing one of the most impressive comeback victories of his career.
Those performances have helped establish wet-weather driving as one of Max Verstappen’s defining strengths, alongside the broader ability to extract performance in difficult circumstances that continues to distinguish him from many of his rivals. GP-News.net’s Max Verstappen coverage follows his performances and career developments throughout the Formula 1 season.
Verstappen explains the secret behind his wet-weather skills
Max Verstappen has now explained that part of the foundation for those skills was built during his childhood karting career. In an interview published by GPBlog.com, the Dutch driver recalled spending considerable time driving in the rain and learning to control a kart with very limited grip.
“In karting there are no wet tyres, so when it rains, you have to race on slicks. It’s not easy, but I think it’s very useful for improving your control of the vehicle in those particular conditions.”
Driving on slick tyres in the wet forces a driver to become particularly sensitive to changes in grip, throttle input and steering. Jos Verstappen deliberately incorporated those conditions into his son’s development from a very young age, part of an intensive karting education that has often been credited with shaping Max Verstappen’s driving instincts. GPBlog has previously reported how Jos Verstappen deliberately made his son practise on wet circuits using slick tyres to develop car control.
Jos Verstappen put himself in Max’s path during training
“I’ve been training this way since I was four and a half years old with my father,” Max Verstappen continued, before describing one of the more unusual exercises devised by Jos Verstappen.
“First he would show me the lines, then he would position himself at a point on the track where I would risk hitting him.”
It was a method that demanded considerable courage from the former Formula 1 driver. The exercise was designed to improve Max Verstappen’s reactions and vehicle control, although the young Dutchman did not always manage to avoid his father comfortably.
“Sometimes I would approach that part of the track too quickly and my father had to react and jump sideways to avoid me. But that’s how you learn. You also have to make mistakes and go off the track to understand where there is grip, where you can take risks and where you can’t. It’s all part of the learning process.”
Why Verstappen believes learning young made the difference
For Max Verstappen, one of the most important elements was not simply how he trained, but the age at which those lessons were absorbed. He believes childhood provides a particularly important window in which a racing driver can develop instincts that become much harder to acquire later.
“You have to do it when you’re young. From five to 12 years old you’re like a sponge; you make huge steps forward at that age. Now it’s definitely much more complicated.”
Starting very young is therefore a crucial part of a professional driver’s development in Max Verstappen’s view. His wet-weather ability may appear instinctive today, but it was built through thousands of laps, mistakes and deliberately difficult conditions long before he reached Formula 1.
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