Clever Verstappen remembers ploy to avoid school and go racing

Max Verstappen never considered school during his teenage years as a barrier to racing, the Dutchman playing hooky or limiting his presence in the classroom thanks to a few clever ploys.

The 22-year-old Red Bull driver was born to race, winning in karting from the outset, rushing through the ranks to become a fully fledged Grand Prix driver at just 17.

While school was obviously a mandatory task, it certainly wasn’t an activity that the eight-time Grand Prix winner was fond of, quite the contrary.

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“I didn’t really like school, didn’t like sitting on a chair and looking at a board,” he said in an interview with Dutch website Formule1.

“Of course we all need school and the education. But Formula 1 was also a goal, because – so to speak – I didn’t want anything to do with school. That motivated me to do well in karting.

“Fortunately, I didn’t need school. It also depends on what you are good at. For some professions you just really need the instruction. But fortunately not for racing.”

As a young karter racing in International meetings all over Europe, Verstappen’s commitment to racing – supported in full by his father Jos – often required a smart game plan to leave the classroom and hit the road early on race weekends.

“I’d ask to go to the toilet, and then I wouldn’t go back to class!” he remembered.

“Every Friday at a quarter past three we were out of school and then we immediately went on the bus to Italy.

“My father had already put the things on the bus, bring a pair of underpants and then go full throttle to Italy.

“On Sunday afternoon we would go home full throttle, we would get home at three or four in the morning.”

Jos Verstappen was instrumental in helping his young son’s talent burgeon and explode. The ex-F1 driver’s confidence in Max’s ability was such that bypassing school was just part of the process.

“I don’t think we were completely crazy,” intervened Jos. “If Max hadn’t had the talent, and if I hadn’t seen it, I would have kicked him all the way to school, so to speak.

“But I knew that something was going to happen in motorsport. That’s why I didn’t just tolerate it, I encouraged it!”.

Eventually, as Verstappen’s career gained momentum, the family moved to Belgium where the young racer enjoyed lessons with a private teacher.

“We agreed [with the teacher] that Max would come only when he was there. He went to school one day a week. It was our salvation as we could race everywhere.”