Max Verstappen: Ready to Balance Racing and Fatherhood

Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen’s natural ease with children will make fatherhood a seamless transition for the Dutch champion.

Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, is not concerned about Max Verstappen, who will become a father this year following the announcement by him and his partner Kelly Piquet that they are expecting a child. The Briton is confident that his driver will make an excellent father.

“He obviously has younger siblings, and he also has a stepdaughter. When you see him around children, he’s very natural, even with my kids. I think fatherhood will come very naturally to him,” assures Horner.

Verstappen has often demonstrated a busy lifestyle, balancing his racing career with numerous online races alongside his Team Redline squad. Horner anticipates that the Dutchman might no longer want to endure “sleepless nights,” but he also recognizes Verstappen’s unwavering passion for competition.

“It’s simply who he is. What you see is what you get with Max. There are no pretenses about him. He’s just a very nice young man, who will now become a father. He has a big heart, enormous passion for this sport, and he drives with conviction and determination. Paired with a sublime amount of talent, that’s what defines Max Verstappen.”

Jos Verstappen, Max’s father, is delighted to become a grandfather again and believes his son will have a strong paternal instinct: “First of all, I’m going to be a grandfather for the fourth time. My daughter Victoria already has three children.”

“I’m very happy, of course, and I hope everything goes well. It’s a nice transition. I was 26 when I became a father for the first time with him, and he’s now 27. There are parallels.”

Max Verstappen’s mentor, Helmut Marko, has embraced the idea of being linked to the child, according to Jos: “He accepted the idea of becoming a sort of great-grandfather with good humor. We talked about it at length during the last race in Abu Dhabi.”

“But there was no discussion of a future at Red Bull (laughs). First, we need to see if it’s a boy or a girl.”