Jos Verstappen lets loose: “After all the mess this year…”

Max Verstappen’s victory sparked enthusiasm in his father, Jos, who was particularly pleased following his son’s success at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Although Max already has four world titles and 72 Formula 1 wins to his name, this victory was met with great enthusiasm at Red Bull. For Jos, in fact, the result represents an important validation for a team that, after a difficult few months, seems to have finally gotten back on track.

“After all the mess this year, this victory is truly fantastic. It’s a huge boost for the whole team—for everyone who spends hours at the factory and goes to work every day full of motivation. Hats off to the team for figuring out where the problems were coming from. And with the updates introduced last week in Baku, suddenly everything started working.”

According to Jos, the progress made by Red Bull now allows Max to harness the RB22’s potential much better than he could in previous months. It’s a change that the former driver himself didn’t think would happen so quickly.

“A few months ago, I wouldn’t have expected it either,” he admitted to De Telegraaf. “They found something, and suddenly a lot of things started working again. That’s also the beauty of this sport: with the right people, you can completely turn the situation around. At the start of the year, they were still a second behind. I think Max can fight for more wins for the rest of the season.”

The recent success, however, doesn’t seem likely to dampen Red Bull’s drive to improve. Jos pointed out that Max continues to carefully analyze every detail with the engineers, even after a race that ended in a victory. He considers this attitude essential for continued growth. In his remarks, he also acknowledged Laurent Mekies, who was recognized for the trust he has maintained in the team.

“After a victory like this, Max goes back to talk with the engineers and still points out some areas that can still be improved. Max is always very critical. And that’s how it should be: you need to have goals to work toward. Personally, I’m also very happy for team principal Laurent Mekies, who has always continued to believe in the people on his team.”