In the 60 times he took the F1 podium, Max Verstappen insisted on displaying the Netherlands flag, the country that the newest world champion represents in the category.
The Red Bull driver, who goes down in history as the first Dutchman to win the title, however, was born in the city of Hasselt, Belgium, on September 30, 1997.
Since he emerged in F1 in 2015, his nationality has always been a reason for controversy. The pilot’s mother, Sophie Kumpen, is adamant that her son is Belgian. His father is former Dutch driver Jos Verstappen, from whom the champion inherited his second nationality.
The topic makes Max uncomfortable. So much so that he touches the questions about it every time he is asked. “I would have problems with my mother or my father [se respondesse]”, usually speak.
​Sophie always tried to convince her son to represent his country of birth. However, he let him make his choice as soon as he turned 18 years old. “On that date, not before that, he will be able to decide for the Dutch nationality,” he said, months before the young man reached the age of majority.
Verstappen, however, seems to have made his decision long before that. So much so that he always ran with a license from Holland. “He’s more Dutch than Belgian. He feels it too,” his father argues.
Most of Max’s fans have adopted the hue associated with Holland’s sport, the orange inherited from the country’s royal family. The fans created the “orange sea”, as they like to be called, and, like what happens in football, they wear T-shirts and flags in that color.
In September, the champion lived his apotheosis, racing on the traditional Zandvoort circuit, on the return of the Dutch GP to the F1 calendar after 36 years. The Red Bull driver started on pole and won his seventh victory of the year, the 17th of his career.
If the race itself did not offer great challenges for the competitor, it was marked by the great party promoted by the fans. The seaside town of Zandvoort experienced a “Verstappenmania”, with decorations referring to the pilot in businesses and homes.
On the podium, the winner paraded with a Dutch flag and was moved at the time of the anthem, to the delight of the fans present, especially his father, who accompanies him in all races.
“Hearing the fans here is incredible. The expectations were high this weekend and it was not easy to turn the victory into reality. I’m happy to win here,” he said, at the time.
He was the first Dutchman to finish the Dutch GP in the top five. Until then, the best results were the sixth places of Carel Godin de Beaufort (1962) and Gijs Van Lennep (1973).
Throughout history, F1 has had a total of 17 Dutch drivers, including the Verstappens. Before Max, none of them had achieved even a victory. The best results were precisely those of Jos, who twice finished third, both in 1994, in Hungary and Belgium.
If he had chosen to represent the country he was born in, Max would have continued a story with more tradition in the main category of motorsport. In all, 24 Belgian drivers have already competed in the championship and two of them have won: Jacky Ickx (8) and Thierry Boutsen (3).
The last to represent the Belgians in F1 was Stoffel Vandoorne, who competed for three seasons with McLaren (2016, 2017 and 2018) and had two seventh places as the best positions, both in 2017, in Malaysia and in Singapore.
Verstappen was also well received when racing in Belgium, although the stage was one of the most frustrating of the season.
In a completely unusual race, with more than three hours late for the start due to heavy rain, the Dutchman was declared the winner after just four protocol laps behind the “safety car”. George Russell of Williams and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes completed the podium.
According to the regulations, the completed laps were enough to earn half of the disputed points. With only half the score (12.5 for the win), Verstappen reached that point at 199.5, not enough to overtake then-leader Hamilton, who totaled 202.5.
In such a tight championship, however, winning that race also turned out to be crucial later for him to become F1 world champion this Sunday.
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