Max Verstappen

Max Emilian Verstappen was born on 30 September 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium, to Jos Verstappen and Sophie Kumpen. Verstappen's parents separated when he was young, after which he lived with his father. His younger sister, Victoria, lived with their mother. Verstappen has three younger half-siblings from his father: a sister from Jos's second marriage and a brother and sister from Jos's current marriage.

His family has a long association with motor sports: his father is a Dutch former Formula One driver, his Belgian mother competed in karting, and his first cousin once removed, Anthony Kumpen, competed in endurance racing and is a two-time NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion currently serving as the team manager for PK Carsport in Euro Series. Verstappen initially attended a secondary school in Maaseik, before moving into private tutoring; he admitted that he used to leave class early to attend races across Europe with his father.

Verstappen started racing in karts at the age of four and competing in championships at the age of seven. In 2005 he competed in the Mini Junior championship of his home province of Limburg, Belgium, and won the VAS Championship in the same category. In 2006, he repeated his success. In 2007, Verstappen graduated to the Rotax Max Mini Max class and won the Rotax Max Challenge Belgium and the Dutch Championship in that category. In 2008, racing in a CRG kart entered by his father, Verstappen won the Belgian Cadet Championship, the Rotax Max Challenge Belgium, and the Benelux Karting Series in Mini Max class. In 2009, Verstappen joined Pex Racing, a CRG customer team. That year, he defended his titles in the Mini Max championships and won the Belgian KF5 Championship.

Verstappen was signed by CRG to race in their factory team and stepped up to international karting in 2010. At the KF3 World Cup, Verstappen finished second to the more experienced Alexander Albon (who eventually became his Formula One teammate at Red Bull Racing) but beat him at the WSK Euro Series and also won the WSK World Series, beating Robert Vișoiu. He finished fifth in the European Championship and won the WSK Nations Cup as well as the final of the Bridgestone Cup where during a 28 laps' race in the rain he beat Dennis Olsen by over 11 seconds. In 2011, Verstappen won the WSK Euro Series ahead of Esteban Ocon in a Parilla-powered CRG kart. However, it was not a successful year for him, as he finished 14th in the European Championship and DNF in the World Cup after an electrical failure while he and Charles Leclerc were catching the drivers in front for the win.

In the following year, Verstappen joined the Intrepid Driver Program to race in the KF2 and KZ2 classes. He won the WSK Master Series in the KF2 class, beating the CRG driver Felice Tiene. Verstappen won the South Garda Winter Cup in the KF2 class, beating Dennis Olsen and Antonio Fuoco. He finished sixth in the WSK Euro Series. He was the youngest driver taking part in the World Championship in KF1 class and finished eighth. In July 2012, it was announced that Verstappen would leave Intrepid. After a short stint with CRG-built Zanardi karts, Verstappen returned to the factory CRG team. …

During the first practice session at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Verstappen replaced Jean-Éric Vergne as part of his preparation for a full-time seat at Toro Rosso in the 2015 season. Aged 17 years and three days, Verstappen was the youngest person in history to participate in a Formula One race weekend. In August 2014, Verstappen joined the Red Bull Junior Team after testing a Formula Renault 3.5 car. He also considered an offer from Mercedes to join their driver development programme.

Verstappen then became the youngest driver to start a World Championship race through joining Toro Rosso's race drivers' line-up with Carlos Sainz as his teammate, in his Grand Prix debut as a full-time driver at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at the age of 17 years, 166 days—breaking Jaime Alguersuari's existing record by almost two years. In this first race, Verstappen ran in points-scoring positions until he was forced to retire due to an engine failure. However, at the subsequent race in Malaysia, Verstappen qualified sixth and finished the race in seventh place, scoring his first Formula One points aged 17 years, 180 days, breaking the record of the then-youngest driver to score World Championship points.

At the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen was involved in a high-speed collision with Romain Grosjean, after clipping the back of Grosjean's Lotus on the approach to the tight first corner, Sainte Devote, and crashed into the barriers at high speed. Verstappen was given a five-place grid penalty for causing the accident, and was branded "dangerous" by Williams driver Felipe Massa. Verstappen continued to regularly finish in the points as well as achieving his best finish of the 2015 season in Hungary by finishing fourth, and equalled this result at the United States Grand Prix. At the end of the season, Verstappen received three awards at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony, for "Rookie of the Year", "Personality of the Year" and "Action of the Year", for his overtake on Felipe Nasr on the outside of the Blanchimont corner at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Verstappen began the 2016 season at Toro Rosso, again alongside Sainz. …

Following Verstappen's maiden pole position at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, former Formula One World Champion Nico Rosberg described him as the fastest driver in Formula One. Rosberg elucidated that Verstappen did not have the fastest car during the qualifying session in Hungary, emphasising that it was Verstappen's raw speed that allowed him to secure pole position: "Mercedes still had the fastest car, and it's just Verstappen with his driving that put it up there in pole."

In 2019, former Formula One World Champion Jenson Button stated that he believes Verstappen is the fastest Formula One driver ever: "I think he is the fastest driver that has ever driven an F1 car. I really do, I think he is unbelievably fast." Journalist Scott Mitchell from The Race commented: "When everything comes together, Verstappen is the quickest driver in F1 over one lap, but the odd mistake and scruffy session must be eliminated." Helmut Marko, the advisor to the Red Bull GmbH Formula One teams, stated that Verstappen is the fastest driver Red Bull have ever had.

In 2021, three-time Formula One World Champion Jackie Stewart claimed that Verstappen is the fastest driver in Formula One, but he also added that Verstappen is still in the "puppy stage" of his career. Peter Windsor, an experienced Formula One journalist, expressed Verstappen's ability to change direction "quicker than anybody else" through the high-speed section Maggots and Becketts: Silverstone's fastest sequence of corners. Windsor stressed that Verstappen's lightning-quick change of direction is a result of the innate feel he has for creating the "perfect platform" to achieve what he wants with the car during a lap. He is intrinsically able to create, for "a trillionth of a second", a minuscule "flat area" between the left and the right of a change of direction ahead of him, in order to attain a stable balance with the car before applying the next steering and throttle input. Scuderia AlphaTauri's team principal, Franz Tost, declared Verstappen to be the fastest driver in Formula One; following the Dutchman's "really deserved" maiden title triumph in 2021. …

Verstappen holds dual Dutch and Belgian citizenship, and decided to compete with a Dutch racing licence, as his father Jos did. He stated in 2014 that he "feels more Dutch", having spent more time with his father than with his mother during his childhood, as well as his upbringing in Maaseik, a Belgian town at the Dutch border. The following year, Verstappen added that he "actually only lived in Belgium to sleep", and that he "was raised as a Dutch person and that's how [he feels]". In 2022, Verstappen stated that he appreciates both sides and is "half-half at the end of the day". In addition to his native Dutch, he is fluent in English and German, with limited proficiency in French.

He competed in Formula One for over a season before obtaining a road driving licence on his 18th birthday. Verstappen moved to Monaco in October 2015 where he has lived ever since. In November 2020, Verstappen bought a Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft from Virgin Galactic. The aircraft, registered PH-DTF, was operated by Exxaero. In January 2025, he acquired a Mangusta GranSport 33 yacht, named Unleash the Lion. The following month, he sold the Falcon 900EX and purchased a Dassault Falcon 8X, registered PH-UTL, which is also operated by Exxaero.

Verstappen is a supporter of the Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven football clubs. In September 2022, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in recognition of his racing achievements. Verstappen has been dating Brazilian-Dutch model Kelly Piquet, daughter of three-time World Drivers' Champion Nelson Piquet, since October 2020. They had their first daughter in April 2025.