Did Max Verstappen meet Michael Schumacher? Red Bull star's history with F1 legend explored

Max Verstappen is a Golden Boy talent. This was obvious from the minute he strapped himself into a Formula One car as a 17-year-old in 2015.

His father, Jos Verstappen, played an important part in shaping a young Verstappen into the blossoming 2x Champion that he is today. Apart from his father, Max had more than one role model to look up to.

Jos Verstappen made his Formula One debut with Benetton in 1994. In a 1993 test, the young Dutchman wowed a crowd of F1 teams, but Benetton scooped him up. Jos and the great Michael Schumacher became great friends during the 1994 Formula One season.

Throughout his career, Schumacher won seven world championships, five of which he earned while working for Ferrari. The German suffered a severe brain injury in a skiing accident in December 2013 after retiring from F1 in 2012. He was immediately placed in a medically induced coma.

The 53-year-old has been receiving private medical care and rehabilitation since September 2014. Health updates have come rarely since then as the family wants to keep the situation quiet.

Max Verstappen, who spent a lot of time with the F1 great over vacations and on weekends, has now revealed what he was like back then. Like any little kid, Verstappen did not know that he would be spending some quality time with the great Michael Schumacher. Of course for little Max, he was just uncle Schumacher.

"I was three or four years old at the time, I just knew him as Uncle Michael. He was very nice. He very much was a family man." Verstappen said.

"But I never saw him as the record world champion, I wasn't aware of that. You can see that in the old photos and videos that we have at home."

In 1994, Jos, Max Verstappen's father, and Schumacher became friends while racing for Benetton. He was also close with another F1 driver, Mick, and his sister Gina.

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What Keeps Max Verstappen One Step Ahead of Everyone Else?

Max Verstappen recently revealed what keeps him one step ahead of the competition. While everyone else went on vacation, the Dutchman shared what he does to pass the time and keep himself prepared at all times.

Verstappen recently said in an interview with former Red Bull David Coulthard that he likes to play Sim Racing in his spare time. He takes a lot of time setting everything up, which helps him be prepared and ahead of everyone else.

He said that he does not use the sim racing setup to race an F1 car. Instead, he enters the GT car. He does this to collect various driving strategies and test his abilities in various settings.