“My mum was faster than him”: Max Verstappen taunts Red Bull boss with a brutal jibe

Christian Horner has not only been the team principal for Red Bull Racing. Horner's amount of experience in racing isn't surprising as his roots go back to when he was a young go-kart race driver.

Max Verstappen mentioned that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was slower than his mother Sophie Kumpen when they competed in karting.

In an interview with The Times, Verstappen said:

“That is quite funny, I’ve spoken about that with him; he realized that my mum was faster than him.”

Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing's present team principal, retired from racing quite early in life. He first began his career in team administration with his Arden organization before switching to Red Bull when they made their F1 debut in 2005.

Max Verstappen comes from a strong racing-oriented family; both his mother Sophie Kumpen and father Jos Verstappen are experienced racers.

But unlike Jos, who went on to compete in Formula 1, Kumpen's career did not go past the karting scene, despite the fact that she competed against potential Formula 1 race drivers.

When describing his parents' driving style, Verstappen added:

"They were very different. My dad was more aggressive; you could tell it from how he was sitting in the go-kart and the way he was driving."

"My mum was more on the clean side. That has to do a bit with how much strength you have. I spoke to my mum about it and sometimes she was struggling a bit for strength; she was small compared to the guys. Then you can’t force the go-kart, you have to find another way."

Not just his parents, but Verstappen's uncle was also a part of the racing fraternity. Anthony Kumpen won the GT2 Championship in 1998 and 1999. It goes without saying that racing and speed run in Max Verstappen's blood.

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Max Verstappen's memorable time with Uncle Schumacher, his extended racing family

Max Verstappen didn't know that his Uncle Schumacher was the seven-time world champion when he went on trips with him along with his family.

Reminiscing about his childhood, Max said:

"I remember a few holidays. I was quite small; I didn’t know he [Michael Schumacher] was seven-times world champion. He was more like uncle Michael walking around."

When asked about how he felt about his uncle, he said:

"He was very nice, easygoing. Simple. People think that everything is always magic and there is a lot of glitter and glamour around, but it’s just family people together."