Jos Verstappen

Jos Verstappen Verstappen at an A1 Grand Prix test in 2005 Born (1972-03-04) 4 March 1972 Montfort, Netherlands Formula One World Championship career Nationality Dutch Active years 1994–1998, 2000–2001, 2003 Teams Benetton, Simtek, Footwork, Tyrrell, Stewart, Arrows and Minardi Entries 107 (106 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 2 Career points 17 Pole positions 0 (Best qualifying position, 6th, 1994 Belgian Grand Prix) Fastest laps 0 First entry 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix Last entry 2003 Japanese Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 2008–2009 Teams Van Merksteijn Motorsport, Aston Martin Racing Best finish 10th (2008) Class wins 1 (2008)

Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen (born 4 March 1972 in Montfort), is a Dutch racing driver. He is the most successful Dutch-born Formula One driver, and has won races in A1 Grand Prix and Le Mans Series LMP2 races. Prior to his F1 début in 1994, he was also the German Formula Three champion and Masters of Formula Three winner in 1993. Verstappen's son, Max, is also a racing driver who won the 2021 Formula One World Championship. He made his debut in Formula One in 2015 for the Toro Rosso team.

Early career

Verstappen began karting at the age of 8, and was participating in national competitions not long after. In 1984 he became Dutch junior champion. He remained successful, and won two European titles.

At the end of 1991 he made the transition to car racing. He drove in Formula Opel Lotus, a class in which identical cars compete against each other. He won the European championship in his first year, and got an offer to drive in Formula Three with Van Amersfoort Racing, who also developed other drivers such as Christijan Albers, Tom Coronel and Bas Leinders. During that European winter season, he raced in New Zealand Formula Atlantic. Subsequently, in German Formula Three, he won several international competitions, including the 1993 Marlboro Masters and the German Formula 3 championship.

Formula One

1994: Benetton

Verstappen first drove a Formula One car when he tested for the Footwork Arrows team alongside Gil de Ferran and Christian Fittipaldi at the Estoril circuit in Portugal. The test took place on September 28, 1993, two days after the Portuguese Grand Prix was held at the same circuit. Despite the large increase in power (from a 175 bhp Formula Three car to the 750 bhp of Formula One), Verstappen set a time that would have qualified him in the preceding race on his fourth timed lap, and improved his time by more than a second after 65 laps. His best lap time of the day was 1:14.45, which was only 0.07 seconds slower than regular driver Derek Warwick had lapped during qualifying, and would have placed him tenth on the grid, a highly impressive performance for a first test. He tested again on September 30 and was lapping near his existing record after five laps, but then crashed the car, ending the test early.

After the test, Verstappen was contacted by every Formula One team except Ferrari and Williams, and was eventually signed as the Benetton team's test driver for the 1994 season.

After a crash in pre-season testing by regular driver JJ Lehto (who broke a vertebra), Verstappen drove in the first two races of the season as a substitute, partnering Michael Schumacher and made his Formula One debut at the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix. During the race he collided with Eddie Irvine, which triggered a multiple accident also involving Éric Bernard and Martin Brundle. Verstappen's car somersaulted, but he emerged unharmed. At the Pacific Grand Prix Verstappen ran 6th but spun off on cold tyres immediately after a pit stop. Lehto was fit for the next race at Imola, but his performances in subsequent races were disappointing and he was rested by Benetton following the Canadian Grand Prix, allowing Verstappen to return to the race seat.

One of the most dramatic incidents affected Verstappen at the German Grand Prix. During his first scheduled pitstop during the race, fuel leaked onto the car after the fuel hose was disconnected. The car, with Verstappen in it, was engulfed in flames for several seconds. As was usual at the time, Verstappen had slightly opened the visor of his helmet for the pit stop, but apart from slight burns to his nose, he was uninjured. After this incident the fuel delivery hose was modified to incorporate a fail-safe cut-out system.

Jos Verstappen driving the Benetton B194 at the 1994 British Grand Prix.

A high point in this season was Verstappen's third place during the next Grand Prix in Hungary, Schumacher having allowed Verstappen to unlap himself on the final lap to pass Martin Brundle's stricken McLaren-Peugeot. He took another third place at the Belgian Grand Prix due to Schumacher's post-race disqualification from victory, and a fifth place at the Portuguese Grand Prix. A curiosity was his accident during a practice session for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, in which Verstappen rammed his car into the pit wall causing debris to fly up and destroy a TV installation. Due to this accident, this equipment is now protected from the race track by acrylic glass.

For the last two races of the season, Verstappen was replaced by the more experienced Johnny Herbert in a bid to win the Constructors' Championship for Benetton. The team was unsuccessful in this aim and the prize went to the rival Williams team.

1995: Simtek

In 1995 he was loaned to Simtek by Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore. Despite some strong showings (including running 6th at the Argentine Grand Prix before a poor pit stop and subsequent gearbox failure) Verstappen only finished once in the five races he drove for the team due to technical difficulties. The team had deep financial troubles and went bankrupt after the Monaco Grand Prix. Out of a race drive, Verstappen did some test driving with Benetton and Ligier (then part-owned by Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw). Briatore decided against taking up his option for Verstappen in 1996, signing Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger to drive instead.

1996: Footwork Arrows

In 1996 he drove for the Footwork team and impressed in the early rounds, running 5th in Interlagos and finishing 6th in Buenos Aires. Shortly after the team was taken over by Walkinshaw's TWR organisation. During the Belgian Grand Prix a part of the suspension of Verstappen's car broke off, causing him to crash heavily. He ended up with a prolonged neck injury. Initially Verstappen featured strongly in Walkinshaw's plans for 1997 (the new owner at one point threatening to replace him with a pay driver unless he signed for another season) but the surprise availability of Damon Hill (soon to be crowned World Champion) saw him dropped instead. His form in the second half of the season dropped off as development on the 1996 car ground to a standstill, TWR Arrows focusing instead on 1997.

1997: Tyrrell

In 1997 he went to the Tyrrell team but did not score any points, though he briefly ran 5th in the Canadian Grand Prix. The team suffered from an underpowered Ford Cosworth EDV V8 engine and a lack of funding leaving Verstappen and team-mate Mika Salo struggling towards the rear of the field. Verstappen's best result for the team was 8th at the wet Monaco Grand Prix. Before the 1998 season Tyrrell were sold to British American Tobacco, who intended to rebrand the team as British American Racing in 1999 after one final season under the Tyrrell banner. Ken Tyrrell wanted to retain Verstappen alongside Toranosuke Takagi but BAT insisted on taking pay driver Ricardo Rosset alongside the young Japanese driver. Tyrrell himself left the team in disgust over the matter, leaving Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite to run the team.

1998: Stewart

Out of a regular drive for 1998, Verstappen tested for Benetton once again early in the year, but the team would not hire him as a permanent test driver for lack of sponsors. As an experienced, fast free agent Verstappen was a common name mentioned in pit lane gossip as a replacement for underperforming drivers. He would eventually return to the series at the French Grand Prix, replacing Jan Magnussen at Stewart. However, the car was uncompetitive, the team struggled to run two cars to the same level and Verstappen did not perform significantly better than his predecessor. Johnny Herbert was signed to partner Rubens Barrichello for 1999 and Verstappen was left casting around for a drive again.

1999: Honda

However, for once it looked like things were going in the right direction for Verstappen. Near the end of 1998 he became the test driver for the Honda Formula One project. He teamed up with old Tyrrell friends Rupert Manwaring and Harvey Postlethwaite, planning to test the new car in 1999 and join the series in 2000. All went well for the operation, with the testing hack showing well against upper-midfield teams such as Benetton and Williams in various test sessions until Postlethwaite died of a heart attack. Not long after, Honda changed their plans from becoming a fully factory team to just an engine supplier and Verstappen was again without a Formula One seat. He tested for the Jordan team in case Damon Hill decided to retire before the end of the season but this came to nothing when Verstappen's testing performance was underwhelming and Hill resolved to see out the season.

2000–2001: Back to Arrows

Verstappen testing for the Arrows team at the Monza circuit in 2000.

In 2000 he returned to Arrows, who had put together an impressive package including Supertec engines, a neat chassis with good straight-line speed and a bevy of sponsors (Dutch communications company Orange playing a part in Verstappen landing the seat). The car proved to be unreliable but its speed allowed Verstappen and team-mate Pedro de la Rosa to dice with the front runners at several circuits (albeit partly due to the design's small fuel tank meaning the cars were often lighter than their rivals). In his second race back at Interlagos he ran 6th before spinning due to a sore neck brought on by his lack of recent seat time. In the wet/dry Canadian Grand Prix (wearing an orange helmet in honour of his national football team's participation at Euro 2000) he drove superbly in the later stages to move into a strong 5th position and score his first points since 1996. After the first corner accidents in Austria de la Rosa and Verstappen ran 4th and 5th but mechanical problems sidelined them both. Verstappen would score only once again, a strong 4th place at Monza.

For 2001 he was retained by Arrows. The Supertec engines were replaced by Asiatech units and de la Rosa was dropped on the eve of the season in favour of the Red Bull-backed Enrique Bernoldi. The package was more reliable but less competitive and Verstappen was hurt on occasion by indifferent qualifying form (often lining up behind his rookie team-mate on the grid). Highlights of the season included running 2nd at Sepang having started 18th, making a superb start and running well in changing conditions before dropping to 7th and later scoring the team's only point of the year for 6th at the A1-Ring. Less impressive were his performances at Interlagos, where he ran into the back of leader Juan Pablo Montoya just after being lapped and Montreal where he moved into the top 6 but asked too much of his brakes and crashed out on a day when points were possible.

Nevertheless he had re-signed to drive for Arrows in 2002 only to be dropped at the eleventh hour in favour of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Later that year he almost signed a test contract with Sauber but he turned out to be physically too large for the car, which was smaller than its predecessor.

2003: Minardi

He returned to the cockpit in 2003 with Paul Stoddart's European Minardi team, considered the tail enders of the grid. With limited funds and underpowered engines it was a difficult season with little opportunity to shine. His best result was 9th at the Canadian Grand Prix, one place away from a point under the new scoring system. At the Brazilian Grand Prix he had been running ahead of eventual winner Giancarlo Fisichella on the same strategy only to spin off on standing water, but generally the year was one to forget – and many noted that Verstappen was largely outperformed by rookie team-mate Justin Wilson. At the end of the year he left the Italian team because he did not feel like driving in the rear-guard for another year.

Out of a drive for 2004 Verstappen was considered as a replacement for Giorgio Pantano at Jordan partway through the season but was unable to fit in the car and began looking for drives outside Formula One for the following season.

Verstappen participated in 107 Grands Prix. He achieved two podium places, and scored a total of 17 championship points which makes him the best performing Dutch race driver in Formula One to date. His highest qualifying position was 6th, at the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix.

A1 Grand Prix

Verstappen driving for A1 Team Netherlands.

After two years of not participating in races, Verstappen was confirmed in July as driver of the A1 Team Netherlands managed by seatholder Jan Lammers's Racing for Holland, for the A1 Grand Prix series. They won the feature race at Durban.

On 27 September 2006, Verstappen split with A1 Team Netherlands after failing to secure payment guarantees. This resulted from Verstappen only being paid for the 2005/06 season a few weeks before the next season started. He was replaced by Jeroen Bleekemolen for the first race of the 2006/07 season at the team's home race at Zandvoort.

Le Mans Series

Verstappen driving for Van Merksteijn Motorsport at the 2008 1000km of Silverstone, in which he and team-mate Peter van Merksteijn Sr. won the LMP2 class.

In December 2007, Verstappen announced that he would take part in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans race, as well as enter the 1,000 kilometre races in the Le Mans Series. Driving a LMP2-class Porsche RS Spyder fielded by Van Merksteijn Motorsport, Verstappen was partnered by team owner Peter van Merksteijn Sr.. Jeroen Bleekemolen also joined the team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

After winning the 1000km Catalunya and 1000km Spa, and finishing second in the 1000km Monza, Jos Verstappen won the LMP2 class of the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans. With his victory at the 1000km Nurburgring, Verstappen clinched the LMP2 Drivers' title and Van Merksteijn Motorsport won the LMP2 Manufacturers' title.

Verstappen participated in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Lola-Aston Martin.

Personal life

Verstappen was married to the Belgian ex-kart driver Sophie Kumpen, with whom he has two children: Max (b. 1997), who is the 2021 Formula One World Champion, and Victoria (b.1999). In December 2008, with the couple effectively separated, it was reported that he has appeared in court in Tongeren, Belgium, charged with assaulting her. He was not found guilty of assault, but was found guilty of threatening her in text messages and violating a previous restraining order. He was fined and was sentenced to three months probational suspended jail time. The two have since been on good terms and remain friends.

Verstappen had been previously convicted of assault in October 2000 over an incident at a karting track in 1998, in which a man suffered a fractured skull. He and his father were given five-year suspended sentences after reaching an out-of-court settlement with the victim. On 29 November 2011 the media reported allegations that he assaulted his ex-girlfriend; Verstappen claimed to only have had a discussion with her. In January 2012, he was arrested on attempted murder charges following accusations that he drove a car into his ex-girlfriend in Roermond, but released two weeks later, after the charge was withdrawn. Verstappen and his ex-girlfriend got back together and they got married in 2014. The couple has one daughter: Blue Jaye.

During his professional career Verstappen was nicknamed "Jos the Boss" as well as "Jos Grindbak", the latter meaning "Jos Gravelpit" and referring to the part of the track in which he occasionally ended up.

Racing career

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1994	Mild Seven Benetton Ford	Benetton B194	Ford V8	BRA Ret	PAC Ret	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA Ret	GBR 8	GER Ret	HUN 3	BEL 3	ITA Ret	POR 5	EUR Ret	JPN	AUS		10th	10
1995	MTV Simtek Ford	Simtek S951	Ford V8	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 12	MON DNS	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC	JPN	AUS	NC	0
1996	Footwork Hart	Footwork FA17	Hart V8	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG 6	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 8	POR Ret	JPN 11		16th	1
1997	Tyrrell	Tyrrell 025	Ford V8	AUS Ret	BRA 15	ARG Ret	SMR 10	MON 8	ESP 11	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 10	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	AUT 12	LUX Ret	JPN 13	EUR 16	NC	0
1998	Stewart Ford	Stewart SF02	Ford V10	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA 12	GBR Ret	AUT Ret	GER Ret	HUN 13	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	LUX 13	JPN Ret		NC	0
2000	Arrows F1 Team	Arrows A21	Supertec V10	AUS Ret	BRA 7	SMR 14	GBR Ret	ESP Ret	EUR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 5	FRA Ret	AUT Ret	GER Ret	HUN 13	BEL 15	ITA 4	USA Ret	JPN Ret	MAL 10	12th	5
2001	Orange Arrows Asiatech	Arrows A22	Asiatech V10	AUS 10	MAL 7	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 12	AUT 6	MON 8	CAN 10	EUR Ret	FRA 13	GBR 10	GER 9	HUN 12	BEL 10	ITA Ret	USA Ret	JPN 15	18th	1
2003	European Minardi Cosworth	Minardi PS03	Cosworth V10	AUS 11	MAL 13	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 12	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 9	EUR 14	FRA 16	GBR 15	GER Ret	HUN 12	ITA Ret	USA 10	JPN 15		22nd	0

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2005–06	Netherlands	GBR SPR Ret	GBR FEA 7	GER SPR Ret	GER FEA 7	POR SPR 4	POR FEA Ret	AUS SPR 7	AUS FEA 4	MYS SPR 5	MYS FEA 16	UAE SPR 11	UAE FEA 9	RSA SPR 16	RSA FEA 1	IDN SPR 7	IDN FEA 6	MEX SPR 4	MEX FEA 2	USA SPR 14	USA FEA Ret	CHN SPR Ret	CHN FEA 17	7th	69

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2008	Van Merksteijn Motorsport Equipe Verschuur	Peter van Merksteijn Sr. Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	LMP2	354	10th	1st
2009	Aston Martin Racing	Anthony Davidson Darren Turner	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	LMP1	342	13th	11th

External links

• Verstappen family official site

Sporting positions
Preceded by Pedro Lamy	Formula Three Masters Winner 1993	Succeeded by Gareth Rees
Preceded by Pedro Lamy	German Formula Three champion 1993	Succeeded by Jörg Müller
Preceded by Thomas Erdos Mike Newton	Le Mans Series LMP2 Champion 2008	Succeeded by Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla