Jos Verstappen revealed details of the negotiations that led Max Verstappen to Formula 1 in 2015. The former F1 driver and father of the four-time world champion said he was surprised when Helmut Marko, then a consultant for Red Bull Racing, presented the possibility of putting the young driver directly on the grid the following year.
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Max had debuted in single-seaters in 2014, competing in the European Formula 3 Championship and attracting the attention of F1 teams. Mercedes and Red Bull showed interest in the Dutch driver, while Jos and Raymond Vermeulen, Max’s manager and a friend of his father, evaluated which environment would be more suitable for the start of his career.
According to Jos, the talks involved both Toto Wolff and Marko, who were pushing to sign the young driver: “Toto Wolff and Helmut Marko were talking to us. They were pushing to sign him,” the former driver told AutoHebdo. Red Bull’s proposal gained strength with the promise of a full-time seat for Max in 2015.
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The agreement, however, was not accepted immediately on the terms presented. Jos recalled a conversation with Marko in Hockenheim, when the Austrian came to the table and said he had only twenty minutes to discuss the matter: “I want Max with us in F1 next year,” Marko reportedly said, surprising the driver’s father.
Jos’s response was to ask for a two-year commitment, instead of just one season, because he considered it important that Max had time to adapt to the category: “I was very surprised that he said that,” he recalled. The strategy was eventually overtaken by the young driver’s performance, who adapted quickly in 2015 at Toro Rosso (now Red Bull Racing) and was promoted to Red Bull Racing already in the second year, something Jos evaluated positively.
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