Given his father’s underwhelming Formula 1 career, it may be that Max Verstappen actually got his elite talent from his mother.
The Dutch megastar claimed his fourth consecutive world title in Las Vegas last time out and, ever since his first, everyone has been asking how a country such as the Netherlands with no racing pedigree was able to foster such a talent.
Kumpen beat numerous big names during an impressive junior career[/caption]
She ended up calling time on her F1 ambitions to support ex-husband Jos and her two children[/caption]
Well as it turns out, it may actually be Verstappen’s Belgian half that has taken him to the top.
While Limburg-born father Jos had a promising start to his career with two podiums while racing alongside Michael Schumacher at Benetton, he never repeated that success, despite the support of his then-wife Sophie Kumpen.
Kumpen, who hails from Hasselt, Belgium, gave up her racing career to support Jos and raise Max and his sister Victoria, but that call may have robbed F1 of a groundbreaking talent.
Just ask Red Bull team principal and CEO Christian Horner who was beaten by Kumpen during her stellar junior racing career.
“I raced in the 1989 Junior Karting Championship, and I raced against Max Verstappen’s mum,” Horner told the Eff Won podcast. “She was in the top ten in the world at that point, she was fantastic.”
Admitting he wasn’t as good as Kumpen, Horner also revealed who else was left in her dust – Monaco Grand Prix winner Jarno Trulli, three-time race winner Giancarlo Fisichella and big names Jan Magnussen and Dario Franchitti.
Don’t just take Horner’s word for it either, 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button also had fond memories of her, saying: “Sophie, Max’s mum, was a fantastic driver.
“When I was racing in karts in 1995, she was my teammate so I saw her drive. I knew how good she was. It was her and the late Lotta Hellberg, those two were just awesome, so fast.”
Only five women have ever made it to F1, and only two have started a race, with Lella Lombardi the most successful racing nine Grand Prix and securing half a point.
Kumpen had aspirations to get there, but claimed Jos’ career was more important after they met on the circuit in 1996.
Kumpen resumed racing in 2013 but only for a short time due to injury[/caption]
She now focuses on supporting her two children, including four-time champion Max[/caption]
“I wanted to get into Formula 1. I had already tried a few cars, but I married Max’s father and I had to make a decision,” she is quoted as saying by Marca.
“He was a Formula 1 driver and we travelled a lot. So I gave up my dream, but now I’m having a lot of fun seeing that my son is doing what I wanted to do.”
Having impressed in karts, Kumpen graduated to open-wheel single-seaters in the 1990s and achieved her greatest success of winning the Andrea Margutti Trophy in 1995 before retiring.
Kumpen and Jos divorced in 2008 when Max was 11, and she then made a brief return to racing in 2013 in the Formido Swift Cup, but retired again after receiving a broken vertebrae in a crash at the Zandvoort circuit where her son would later become a god.
Maybe she could have had her own legacy there too, but the now-retired racer seems more than happy with her lot, proudly watching her son dominate a sport she once aspired to.