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Red Bull shared an adorable throwback of Max Verstappen spending time with his girlfriend Kelly Piquet's daughter Penelope at the 2024 Japanese GP. The Dutch driver and his girlfriend are just a few weeks away from becoming parents for the first time after initially announcing Piquet's pregnancy at last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Kelly Piquet, 36, is the daughter of former three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet Sr. and has been dating the 27-year-old since late 2020. The couple live in Monaco in Verstappen's apartment with her five-year-old daughter Penelope, who she shared with former Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat.
Max Verstappen and Penelope share an adorable dynamic as the former refers to himself as a "bonus dad" to the five-year-old. The duo have been spotted in the paddock multiple times including last year's Japanese GP, which the Red Bull dominated and won for the third year running.
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In a video shared by the Austrian team on its social media platform, Instagram, Max Verstappen and Penelope were spotted spending some lovely moments including the Dutchman celebrating his win with the five-year-old in Parc Ferme.
In 2025, the four-time F1 world champion arrived in Japan without Kelly Piquet and her daughter given that the latter is in her final trimester of pregnancy.
Max Verstappen analyzes his Friday running in Japan
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that he was unsatisfied with the balance of RB21 as he claimed the trickiness of the car did not click with him in the first two practice sessions.
Speaking with Sky Sports, the 63-time F1 race winner said:
"It was quite chaotic for everyone out there with all the red flags. Today has been quite difficult for me. We tried a lot of different things with the car but it seems like a lot of things are not really clicking at the moment, so it's quite difficult to put the lap down.
"You need a lot of confidence and commitment around here. At the moment, I don't feel like I can use that so I still have quite a bit of work to do."
Max Verstappen's new teammate Yuki Tsunoda too found the RB21 more "tricky" when compared to enjoyable simulator sessions before the Japanese GP, adding:
"It's a bit different to the simulator, what I felt. Maybe more than expected in terms of car feeling. I knew it would always be a bit different in the real car and it was a bit more exaggerated in the real car, feeling a bit more tricky."
Max Verstappen finished P5 and P8 in the FP1 and FP2 sessions respectively and was battling the car in the final chicane in the final sector of the track. However, with some tweaks to the car overnight, he could be in the running for pole position alongside his rivals.
