Max Verstappen will never make the switch to rally racing. He admires the career of his father, Jos Verstappen, but finds the risk to himself too great. “If I make a mistake and I hit a tree, that tree doesn’t give way. The risk is simply too great,” the four-time world champion explained in the podcast Up To Speed.
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Jos Verstappen is active in rally racing and his son has a lot of respect for that. “He is now almost 54 years old and races against drivers who are in their late twenties, early thirties. In some championships he just beats them, I find that really impressive. If you do it for a few years, you naturally get better at it,” the Dutchman indicates. Yet he does not see himself competing for rally championships.
‘It is too big a risk’
The champion has indicated several times before that he wants to try other motorsport disciplines besides Formula 1. Think of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “I like racing against my father. Honestly, he is really very good. He loves it and it is very difficult to beat him. But on a real stage, when he shows me all the videos, I find that really impressive. Only then I think: if I make a mistake and I hit that tree, that tree doesn’t give way. That is the limit for me. It is simply too big a risk,” Verstappen concluded.
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According to the Red Bull driver, Formula 1 is a lot safer than rally: after all, the barriers are specially designed to absorb a crash. “I know it might sound weird, but in Formula 1, if you crash – usually – you have a barrier; a well-designed guardrail that absorbs the impact better. In my feeling, it’s different in a rally. It’s a risk I don’t want to take, but it remains cool to see,” said Verstappen.
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