"I call it the ‘Verstappen project’" - Father Jos' 'hard' nature made Max Verstappen a young 'World Champion' in F1, believes Red Bull advisor

Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko believes that Max Verstappen became one of the youngest F1 world champions in the sport’s history thanks to the “hard” regimen that he was put through by his father Jos Verstappen.

Marko said that the “enormous pressure” that the 24-year-old experienced from an extremely young age prepared him to deal with the challenges of battling for the title. Speaking to Auto Hebdo ahead of the 2022 F1 French GP, the Austrian said:

“His father, Jos, initiated him when Max was four years old. He was very hard on him. It obviously worked well. Personally, I call it the ‘Verstappen project’.”

He further said:

“Max has always had to deal with enormous pressure from Jos. He continues to put some, but a little less now. All this made him more mature. He is 24 years old, and he is a young World Champion.”

A former F1 driver himself, Jos Verstappen used all his learnings from his own motorsports career to maximize his son’s prospects. From a very young age, Verstappen Sr. put his son through a tough regimen to ensure that he is capable of withstanding F1’s high-pressure situations and realize Jos’ dream of achieving world championship success.

And since realizing that dream at the end of last season, albeit under controversial circumstances, Marko believes that the Verstappens have “validated their objective.” Echoing Max Verstappen’s comments from earlier this year, the Austrian felt that any further success for the Dutchman would just be “a bonus”. He said:

“After his title, we could feel a great relief within the whole family. By winning, they achieved what they had long wanted and validated their objective.”

Marko added:

“The rest will now be just a bonus.”

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Max Verstappen’s father justifies his “tough approach” to parenting

Jos Verstappen has justified being tough against his son Max Verstappen while molding the latter for a career in F1. While he conceded that some of his tactics weren’t necessarily wise, he said that he figured out how to get the best of out of Max through “trial and error.”

Speaking to Mirror UK, Verstappen Sr. said:

“I do not say that I immediately had all wisdom, but I have become wise through trial and error. I was working on it seven days a week, at least twelve hours a day. It felt like a hobby, but I still wanted to win everything.”

He added:

“Of course, people have said at times: you’re not right to be doing this. And when I look back on it now, I realise that we were extremely busy. We now know what we did it for.”

A recent documentary titled “Whatever it takes” explored Max Verstappen’s journey to his title success. In the film, the reigning world champion opened up about some of the tactics that his father used when he made a mistake. In one instance, Verstappen was reportedly left alone in a gas station for “several hours” after losing a karting race.

The documentary has garnered widespread criticism against Jos Verstappen, with some fans labeling his approach as “extremely harsh.”