Max Verstappen sibling 'AS TALENTED' as two-time F1 world champion

Max Verstappen

Verstappen sibling 'AS TALENTED' as two-time F1 world champion

Verstappen comes from a very talented family of racing drivers

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 12 September 2023 12:57 Updated: 17:03

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Max Verstappen has revealed that his sister 'had the same amount of talent' as he had, but didn't pursue a career in racing.

Victoria Jane Verstappen is two years younger than her two-time world champion brother, and was given the same opportunities by their father Jos Verstappen to follow in his footsteps as a racing driver.

Max is currently enjoying a period of dominance in Formula 1, winning the last two world championships and cruising towards his third successive title.

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Last time out at the Italian Grand Prix, he claimed his 10th consecutive race victory, breaking the all-time record for consecutive race wins.

And now he has suggested that his sister had the same talent as he had when they were both young, but she didn't enjoy it like he did and so followed a different path instead.

"There were a few instances where my dad would spend two days preparing everything like he would do with me, making sure everything was perfect for her to drive," the current world championship leader told RaceFans.net.

"Then she would drive for like 20 laps, and then she's like 'That's it for me for today'. And then my dad would get quite annoyed.

"I think my sister probably had the same amount of talent as I had when I was little, but she just didn't want it enough. She liked it but not enough to, like, fight for it, be fit, be ready. That's fine, as long as you realise that."

Famous F1 siblings

The Schumacher brothers shared multiple podiums together

Had Victoria followed Max into the sport, they would have become the latest in a rather short list of F1 siblings that have take to the track as rivals.

The most famous, perhaps, was when both Michael Schumacher and his brother Ralf Schumacher raced against each other between 1997-2006. Between them, they won seven world championships and claimed 97 race wins, a huge majority of which came from Michael, of course.

Two-time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi raced alongside his brother Wilson for a few seasons, including 1972 when Emerson won the championship.

Gilles Villeneuve's brother Jacques (who was the uncle of the other Jacques Villeneuve who won the 1997 world championship) raced in the 1981 season with his brother, but failed to qualify in the two races that he was selected to drive for the Arrows Racing team.