Max Verstappen, by James Gray, is a biography of the two-time F1 world champion. The prologue starts with the famous Abu Dhabi 2021 race that resulted in Max’s first championship and kicks off a book that goes from Max’s birth to his glory times.
The interesting part of this biography is that it doesn’t focus only on Max, but also on other drivers, mainly his father Jos, and the parallels between them and the Dutch driver. The Verstappen family problems and the conflicts Jos had with justice are the first episodes to be told by the author of this book. Then, the book presents the readers with the uncommon experience of Max with his Moto 4 at an early age, mainly drifting and in wet conditions.
The second chapter is a historical one since the foundation of the Automotive Association of Netherlands and the history of the Zandvoort circuit are described, including the accidents that happened there as it’s a dangerous track. This chapter also includes the history of Dutch and Belgian drivers, the Spa Francochamps circuit history, and the reason why Max, despite being born in Belgium, races with a Dutch license and identifies himself as Dutch. Still in this chapter, the author mentions the influence his mom had in his life and career.
In a similar way to the end of the second chapter, the third chapter starts with the relationship between Max and his father Jos, including some other examples of relationships between fathers who were once drivers and their sons who are now building their path in F1 or in other competitions, as Carlos Sainz and his son. It’s in this chapter that the difficulties of the British drivers to reach F1 back in the old days are presented, either by lack of money or sponsorships. The end of this chapter focuses on the relationship between Max, his father, and his agent, Raymond, as well as the friendship built over the years between Jos and the F1 world champions Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher.
The chapters then become “faster”, with the life and career of Max evolving. The fourth chapter includes the importance that eSports had in Max during the pandemic, as well as the influence of racing videogames not just in Max, but also in all the other grid drivers.
In the fifth chapter, the author goes back to the days when Max started racing, in which he presents us with the episode in which Max broke his first karting carburetor due to pushing his kart above its limits. This is just the first of many episodes that mark the first years of Max in karting, who always had his father’s support, with Jos being the only mechanic and the main responsible for Max’s success, despite his natural talent. By the end of this chapter, the conciliation of school and racing is also discussed, with Max being just one of many drivers who had to quit school to pursue his dream of becoming a racing driver.
After the early karting experiences, Max moves to international competitions, in which he competes in classes beyond his age, with older and experienced drivers, but without losing his confidence, talent, and winnings. In fact, Max was so good that other drivers and teams suspected his kart was illegal, which was proven not to be the fact. This is all detailed in chapter six.
However, not everything was easy, and Max also faced some difficulties in the transition from the karting to the formulas. It’s in chapter seven that the “inchident” with Leclerc is presented, as well as the early relation with drivers that are now also on F1.
It was not just with Leclerc that Max had some incidents. After joining the F3, Max had some problems with Ocon (later on would also have some more in F1). Surprisingly, or not, Max was part of some races of the Ferrari Academy (chapter eight), but eventually signed a contract with the rival RedBull (chapter nine) to substitute the two-time Formula E champion, Jean-Eric Vergne, in the second team (Toro Rosso). Here, Max raced alongside Carlos Sainz Jr., holding the record for the youngest-ever driver on the grid. His talent made Helmut Marko, the “big boss” of RedBull, compare him with Ayrton Senna (“drivers like this only appear once in a while”). However, not everything was wonderful. Max also received some criticism for being so young…
The tenth chapter introduces the first year of Max in F1, his advantage to his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., and even to the drivers of the RedBull’s main team. This chapter also includes an embarrassing episode for Max, where he breaks the front wing of his F1 car at an exhibition event.
His first victory in F1 was in 2016, in Barcelona, in his first appearance for the main team. Since then, his relationship with the media and with the other drivers, who constantly criticize him for being so aggressive on the track, became common topics associated with the Dutch driver. Chapter eleven also describes the Brazilian race in 2016, where Max put into practice what he learned a couple of years ago in Karting, i.e., race under wet conditions.
The last three chapters focus on the path of Max in F1 until the final of 2020, then of the 2021 season until the summer break and, finally, the last races of the 2021 championship, finishing the book where it started, in Abu Dhabi, the race in which Max sealed his first F1 world championship.
I truly enjoyed this book, as it gave me the opportunity to learn more about the life and career of Max Verstappen, but also of other drivers and episodes of F1, which is a passion of mine. I only miss in this book the testimony from the people who interacted with Max over the years, and not just a set of facts and episodes related to the Dutch driver, which is the reason why I only rate this book 4 out of 5.
Rating 4/5
Read in 2023