"I think I've never seen something like this": When an emotional Jos Verstappen was in awe of Max Verstappen's driving
Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, was once stunned by his son's performance at the 2016 F1 Brazilian GP, where he plowed through the field and secured a podium in extremely wet conditions.
In 2016, Max Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull Racing from Toro Rosso. He replaced Daniil Kvyat after the Russian GP and drove for the Austrian giants for the rest of the season. He instantly started showing promising performance, bagging several podium places despite being a relatively young driver on the grid. One of his best performances of the year came nearly at the end of the season, in Brazil.
In the qualifying session, Verstappen was able to secure P4 and had a good start in the race. He managed to keep his car on track and avoided collisions with other cars that were crashing out. The two red flags somewhat helped him retain positions. However, he soon realized that intermediate tires had no grip and he needed full wet tires. In the latter stages of the race, the team pitted him for wet tires.
This caused him to lose 10 places since it was not a regular scheduled pitstop. From this point onwards, Verstappen unleashed himself. He plowed through the field, taking different racing lines and overtaking drivers left, right, and center. In 16 laps, the Red Bull driver overtook many drivers and managed to secure P3, behind Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and race winner Lewis Hamilton.
After the race, Sky Sports talked to Max's father, Jos Verstappen, who was shocked to see the herculean performance displayed by his son in Brazil. He said that he had seen many races of his son, but this one was special.
"I think I have never seen something like this. I must say he surprised me today. And I know him for a long time and I have seen many races he did, but today it was incredible," Jos Verstappen said.
Following his comment, the clip also showcased how Jos was congratulated by former world champion Niki Lauda. To pay respect to Verstappen senior, Lauda took off his famous red cap when he shook the Dutchman's hand. At the time, Lauda was Mercedes' senior advisor.
Max Verstappen shares his thoughts after securing a podium in the 2016 Brazilian GP
After securing P3 in the 2016 F1 Brazilian GP, Max Verstappen shared his thoughts on the chaotic race. Speaking on the podium, he said that he felt great, and talked about the details of the race. He also mentioned a massive incident where his car nearly crashed into the barriers and how he saved it from going out of control.
"Yeah it was an incredible race. Of course, with the red flags, difficult conditions, especially the last straight was really really slippery. In the final restart I managed to overtake Nico and I was in quite a comfortable condition over there. Then I had a massive moment...maybe I clipped a bit of the curb, had a massive moment, locked all four wheels, managed to keep it out of the guard rail, continues still was second," Verstappen said.
Max Verstappen finished the 2016 F1 season in fifth place with 204 points. In the following years, he never went below that championship position and kept improving in the future.