Max Verstappen is very likely one of the highest-paid drivers on the current Formula 1 grid (with a close comparison to Lewis Hamilton when personal sponsorships are also taken into account), but even the Dutch driver had to be extremely careful with money at the very beginning of his career.
Raymond Vermeulen, Max Verstappen’s manager, speaking to Formule 1 magazine, shared an amusing story dating back to 2014—the only single-seater season the then 17-year-old Verstappen completed in the Formula 3 European Championship before making his Formula 1 debut in 2015 with Toro Rosso.
Max Verstappen had reached an agreement with Toro Rosso to take part in three Friday free practice sessions in Japan, the United States, and finally Brazil. At Interlagos, the trio formed by Max Verstappen, Jos Verstappen, and manager Raymond Vermeulen arrived with virtually no budget left.
“We had a budget of zero, and for that reason we only booked one hotel room for the three of us at the Transamerica Hotel in São Paulo,” Vermeulen explained. “For Max, a cot had been arranged, a sort of small bed. It was placed at the foot of the main bed, and of course that Thursday he went to sleep on time, while Jos and I went out for a drink. We came back to the room a bit later and perhaps we were a little too noisy. Max woke up and complained because he had to drive the next day, and Jos told him not to whine and that everything would be fine. We will never forget those moments—we depended on each other and we had a lot of fun.”
These early experiences of shared sacrifice and modest living are what helped forge the resilience Max Verstappen displays today. While the private jets and luxury suites have replaced the hotel cots, the core team remains exactly the same, proving that the foundation for his current dominance was built long before he ever won a world championship.
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