Max Verstappen and Rico Verhoeven get along very well and both athletes have a fantastic weekend behind. Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix, while kickboxer Verhoeven successfully defended his world title against Jamal Ben Saddik. The men congratulated each other with their great achievement.

"I spoke to him after the match. That was tremendously nice," Verhoeven says to the NOS. "He had first sent me a message with: Oh, how good!' So I thought: I'll send him a quick video, maybe he is at home in Monaco. It was late and I was on my way to the hospital. And then I thought: no, of course you are in America. So I called him."

It was after Verstappen had managed to secure pole position at the Circuit of the Americas. "He answered right away with: 'Bro, you're an animal. You did make it exciting'. That was super fun and I was also proud of him for starting on pole. And eventually he won again, so I texted him: proud of your friend. And then he responded immediately with: 'We are on fire'. Yes, very nice."

Verstappen and Verhoeven spoke to each other

Wat twee winnaars naar elkaar appen? "We zijn on fire!" pic.twitter.com/2hafNUUrfu

— NOS Sport (@NOSsport) October 25, 2021