Marko: believes Distance from Jos Verstappen has made Max more mature
F1 News
There's no doubt Jos Verstappen has helped his son, Max, become a better driver and take him to the level he's at now. But during the 2018 Formula 1 season, Jos took a back seat and Helmut Marko believes this has increased Max's maturity levels.
Jos, a former F1 driver himself, was present in the paddock and garages during Verstappen's first few seasons. But he was talking to everyone to give advice, but he was mainly present to provide a shelter for his son. After the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, Jos moved away.
"There will come a time when you have to take some distance from each other and you have to make your own beans. I'm not saying that that's why he got better after Monaco, but it certainly didn't hurt him," says Marko about the distance Jos took afterwards.
It was already clear in the past that taking distance is difficult. Anthony Hamilton was also closely involved in the development of his son, Lewis, and he was even his manager. To be able to make the move to Mercedes and gain more freedom, the then young Hamilton chose a new manager himself, so that his father could be his father again.