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Verstappen senior celebrates 49th birthday; a look back at his career
Until recently Jos Verstappen was the best Formula 1 driver the Netherlands ever had. However, for a few years now his son Max Verstappen has taken over the reins, but Jos will not be sad about that. Verstappen senior celebrates his 49th birthday today.
Taking on Schumacher directly
Verstappen senior's first season was immediately his best in Formula 1. He was brought in as one of the three drivers to compete against Michael Schumacher. In his sixth Grand Prix, the Dutchman achieved his first podium. A feat he repeated one race later. Unfortunately, scoring points became increasingly scarce after that.
After a few races for Benetton, Verstappen drove for several smaller F1 teams such as Simtek, Footwork, Arrows and Minardi in 1994. He emerged as a good driver, but never got the material to compete for podiums. Over 107 Grands Prix, Verstappen finished on the podium twice.
Success in other classes
When his F1 career ended the Dutchman moved to the A1GP, where he managed to win another race in South Africa. He also won the LMP2 class of the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, but his greatest triumph is probably the success of his son Max Verstappen.
From a young age, Jos went all out to make Max a successful driver, something he succeeded in with flying colours. After years of training and hard work, Max reached F1 and became the youngest F1 race winner of all time.
This article was written and originally published by Bonne on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.