Jos Verstappen: 'Many people, especially the Brits, wrongly think Max is an a**hole!'

For Verstappen Sr., his son's first world title was the ultimate highlight of Max's Formula 1 career: "A first title is naturally very special, but everything around it made it even more special", Jos says in a conversation with De Telegraaf.

With this, he is referring to the much-discussed end of the F1 season 2021, when Verstappen overtook Hamilton in the last lap of the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi.

"Every now and then I see a video of that last lap. It remains special. How Max puts his car next to Hamilton's and overtakes him... While we actually had no chance up to that final phase. Hamilton was simply too fast at that moment", concludes Jos Verstappen. The first victory in Spain, in 2016, also remains a highlight that sticks with Jos.

What Verstappen may find just as important is the way his son has developed as a person.

He points out that Max is still the same as he was ten or fifteen years ago and he is incredibly proud of that: "I think that a lot of people, maybe especially the British, have a wrong image of him.''

''That he's an a**hole, or something. Perhaps that's also due to the present time with social media. But I absolutely do not recognize that", Verstappen concludes.