In a recent interview, former racing driver Alex Brundle discussed the significant role that fathers play in the development of young drivers, focusing in particular on Jos Verstappen and the impact he had on the career and mental resilience of his son, current Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen.
From the very beginning of Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 career – which started when the Dutch driver was only 17 years old – the role of his father Jos has always been a topic of discussion. Many believe that the strict and often criticised upbringing that Max received from his earliest days in karting laid the foundation for the mental strength and resilience that now define the Red Bull Racing driver. Alex Brundle, himself a former GP3 driver and the son of the well-known Formula 1 commentator and former driver Martin Brundle, explained in detail how the approach of Verstappen senior shaped Max’s “steel-like” character.
The words of Brundle
“I don’t think my father was ever as extreme as Jos. But he also had that old-school driver mentality,” Alex Brundle said during an appearance on the podcast The Red Flags. “When you race, especially in the era when my father raced, if something went wrong, people could get seriously hurt. That meant that parents had to be very direct and honest, because things needed to be done the right way. It was a matter of life or death. And you might only have this one race, this one year, or this one opportunity to do it, which makes these parents quite direct and, in some ways, extreme.”
“For a driver to get through this, you need a character like Max’s. It either breaks you mentally and makes you say, ‘I can’t handle this,’ or it forges you into steel. And that’s exactly where Verstappen is.”
During the podcast, Alex Brundle also recalled an incident with his father Martin Brundle from 2009, when he was racing in the then FIA Formula Two Series. His father told him to hang up his helmet immediately if he ever felt even the slightest fear while tackling the Eau Rouge corner at Spa-Francorchamps.
“When I started, I never expressed fear in the early days,” Alex Brundle remembered. “But the first few times I took on Eau Rouge in a real Formula 2 car, I said, ‘Wow, this is fast, really fast, Dad.’ And he just looked at me and said, ‘If you’re scared, stop immediately, because from here on it’s only going to get faster.’ That was the only conversation we ever had about it.”
Finally, Alex Brundle concluded: “I myself have been in two races where two drivers were seriously injured. And as a driver, you are firmly convinced it will never happen to you. You believe it with 100% certainty. It’s a very strange mental state!”
The interview highlights not only the crucial role fathers play in the early development of future Formula 1 stars but also the unique mental challenges that drivers face as they progress from karting to the pinnacle of motorsport. For Max Verstappen, the guidance and demanding approach of Jos Verstappen has clearly helped forge the resilience and steel-like mentality required to succeed at the highest level, while Alex Brundle reflects on similar lessons learned from his father, Martin Brundle, demonstrating that parental influence can be a decisive factor in the making of champions.
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