How Verstappen's karting years made an F1 champion -- and prepared him for a new test — SkimNews
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- Max Verstappen will attempt to overtake 100 drivers in a karting challenge at Silverstone on Sept. 16, broadcast live on Disney+ and ESPN2, with comedian Mo Gilligan hosting coverage that begins at 5 p.m. BST
- Jos Verstappen served as Max's mechanic, engine tuner, and driver coach, loading his son's kart into a van each race weekend and clocking more than 60,000 motorway miles per year as they raced across Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.
- The Verstappens worked out of a Belgian workshop equipped with a dyno, where Max would tinker on kart engines after school and Jos would continue alone until midnight chasing performance gains
- Max Verstappen recalled a plateau around age five or six at the Genk circuit that worried his father; switching to a new track reset his progress and his pace returned once they went back to Genk
- Max Verstappen has not driven a competitive go-kart since 2016, with his furthest remembered grid start being 10th or 11th, and he called passing 100 karts 'still going to be hectic'
Why it matters: Verstappen credits the relentless, strategy-driven karting routine engineered by his father with building the racecraft that produced four consecutive F1 titles — and the Sept. 16 Silverstone event offers a rare live test of whether that childhood edge still translates against 100 amateur karters on a track he has not raced competitively in nearly a decade.
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