Jos Verstappen

Jos Verstappen

Nation:	Netherlands
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last start:	2003 Japanese Grand Prix
Constructors
1994  Benetton  • 1995  Simtek  • 1996  Arrows  • 1997  Tyrrell  • 1998  Stewart  • 2000–2001  Arrows  • 2003  Minardi
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup tenth ( 1994 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 107 - - -
World Cup points :	17th
Podiums :	2
Leadership laps :	-

Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen (born March 4, 1972 in Montfort ) is a former Dutch automobile racing driver . In 1994 he was promoted to the highest automobile racing class, Formula 1 , and took part in 107 Grand Prix races until 2003. This makes Verstappen the second most Formula 1 driver from the Netherlands, behind his son Max .

Career

Karting

In 1982, Verstappen began karting and competed in national championships. In 1984 and 1986 he won the Dutch junior championship. "Jos, the Boss" , as he was later called, had the most successful season in 1989, when he drove international races and won two European titles.

Formula racing

In 1991, Verstappen switched to formula racing and met Huub Rothengatter , his future manager . Jos tested various formula cars and showed his talent.

With the help of the sponsors Philips and Marlboro  - and thanks to Huub Rothengatter - Verstappen received a place in the Formula Opel Euroseries in 1992 . He scored two wins and finished the season seventh. Together with Martijn Koene, Verstappen also won the Nations Cup and the Benelux Championship.

In 1993, Verstappen again competed in several racing series. He finished fourth in the Formula Atlantic Championship in New Zealand , won the German Formula 3 championship and won his home race in Zandvoort .

Due to his good results in the formula series, Verstappen denied tests for the Formula 1 teams McLaren and Arrows . Jordan offered to sign Verstappen for the 1994 season.

formula 1

Verstappen in the Benetton B194, Silverstone 1994

Despite contract negotiations with other teams, Verstappen signed with Benetton as a test driver . After JJ Lehto was injured during tests before the start of the season, Verstappen took over his driver's seat until Lehto recovered at the San Marino Grand Prix . Lehto only collected one championship point in the following four races, while team-mate Michael Schumacher was on course for the title. Verstappen therefore took over the cockpit from Lehto again and, by the end of the season, had contested a total of 10 of the 16 championship races, of which he finished two races on the podium. At the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim , his vehicle caught fire while refueling. His mechanic tilted the tank hose when it was put on so that gasoline leaked and could ignite. Thanks to the fireproof overalls, neither the mechanics nor Verstappen were seriously injured, and he suffered a few minor burns. Despite his intermittent racing break and the fire accident, Verstappen finished the season in tenth place in the world championship classification.

In the following year he started for Simtek . After the Monaco Grand Prix , team boss Nick Wirth had to file for bankruptcy, so that Verstappen returned to Benetton as a test driver. He also played tests for the French team Ligier during the season .

In 1996 , Verstappen moved to Arrows and scored a championship point in 16 races. He was also the official development driver for Bridgestone , which was to enter Formula 1 as a tire manufacturer a year later. Since the Arrows team relied on the services of world champion Damon Hill and pay driver Pedro Diniz for 1997 , Verstappen switched to Tyrrell . Although he failed in 7 of 17 championship races with technical defects, Verstappen also wanted to start in 1998 for team principal Ken Tyrrell . But the new owner British American Tobacco formed his own team and put Verstappen out the door.

It was only in the eighth race of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1998 that Verstappen received a new driver's seat and replaced the Dane Jan Magnussen at Stewart . At the end of the year, Verstappen was back without a cockpit. In 1999 he put in a test year and was the official test driver for Honda , who wanted to return to Formula 1 with their own team. However, after Harvey Postlethwaite's death , the plans were postponed again.

So Verstappen returned to Arrows in 2000 and drove two more seasons for the English, in which he scored a total of six World Cup points. His best result was fourth place in the Italian Grand Prix . In 2002, Arrows left Verstappen out again and signed Heinz-Harald Frentzen , despite an existing contract . Verstappen then planned to hire Sauber-Petronas as a test driver. After sitting tests, however, it was found that Verstappen did not fit into the Sauber because of his height.

In 2003 he returned to Formula 1 for one season and started for Minardi . He achieved a fastest time in the first qualification at the French Grand Prix . Even so, Minardi and Verstappen parted ways at the end of the season. A commitment to Jordan failed, so that Verstappen had to end his Formula 1 career.

Further motorsport career

Verstappen in the Porsche RS Spyder, Silverstone 1000 km race in 2008

After a year break, he started for the Netherlands in the A1 Grand Prix series in 2005/06 . A highlight of the season was Verstappen's 1st place at the Grand Prix of South Africa. Verstappen finished the season in 7th place in the championship. In 2007, Verstappen was in conversation with teams from the American Champ Car World Series , but a collaboration did not materialize.

The following year, Verstappen drove a Porsche RS Spyder in the Le Mans Series for the Van Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur team . Together with Peter van Merksteijn senior and Jeroen Bleekemolen he was able to achieve four class wins and a second place in the LMP2 category. Since neither Merksteijn nor Bleekemolen contested the entire season, Verstappen is the sole LMP2 champion of the 2008 Le Mans Series . Team owner van Merksteijn commented on Verstappen at the end of the year:

"Without him I'd never reached this level: He taught me how to drive a ground effect car and helped me to progress throughout the season"

"Without him I would never have reached this level: He showed me how to drive a car with a ground effect and helped me improve over the season."

In addition, he took part in the 24-hour race of Le Mans for the first time on June 15, 2008 and finished the race, together with Peter van Merksteijn and Jeroen Bleekemolen, in 10th place overall and as class winner of the LMP2.

At the beginning of the 2009 season it was announced that Verstappen was planning to compete again with Epsilon Euskadi in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the Le Mans Series. However, the endeavor was dashed, as the team did not register in any race. At the end of May, Verstappen tested a Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 for the Aston Martin works team at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza . During the test for the Le Mans 24-hour race, he severely damaged his vehicle and suffered bruises and whiplash injuries himself.

Personal

Verstappen was married to the Belgian Sophie (née Kumpen) from 1996 to 2008 and has a son and a daughter with her. She is a niece of the Belgian rallycross champion from 1987, Paul Kumpen , and cousin of the FIA ​​GT racing driver Anthony Kumpen from Hasselt , and was a kart driver herself for a number of years . Verstappen's son Max was 2013 karting world champion and two-time karting European champion. He made his Formula 1 debut in 2015 and at the age of 17 was the youngest driver of all time.

In 2000, Verstappen was sentenced to five years probation in Belgium for breaking a person's skull in a fight in a kart race in Lanaken in May 1998 .

statistics

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1994	Mild Seven Benetton Ford	Benetton B194	Ford Zetec-R 3.5 V8	10	-	-	2	-	-	10	10.
1995	MTV Simtek Ford	Simtek S951	Ford ED 3.0 V8	4th	-	-	-	-	-	-	31.
1996	Footwork Hart	Footwork FA17	Hard 3.0 V8	16	-	-	-	-	-	1	16.
1997	Tyrrell	Tyrrell 025	Ford ED4 3.0 V8	17th	-	-	-	-	-	-	21st
1998	Stewart Ford	Stewart SF2	Ford Zetec-R 3.0 V10	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	23.
2000	Arrows F1 team	Arrows A21	Supertec 3.0 V10	17th	-	-	-	-	-	5	12.
2001	Orange Arrows Asiatech	Arrows A22	Asiatech 3.0 V10	17th	-	-	-	-	-	1	18th
2003	Minardi F1 team	Minardi PS03	Cosworth 3.0 V10	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	22nd
total				106			2			17th

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1994
	DNF	DNF					DNF	8th	DNF	3	3	DNF	5	DNF
1995
	DNF	DNF	DNF	12	DNS
1996
	DNF	DNF	6th	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	10	DNF	DNF	DNF	8th	DNF	11
1997
	DNF	15th	DNF	10	8th	11	DNF	DNF	DNF	10	DNF	DNF	DNF	12	DNF	13	16
1998
								12	DNF	DNF	DNF	13	DNF	DNF	13	DNF
2000
	DNF	7th	14th	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	5	DNF	DNF	DNF	13	15th	4th	DNF	DNF	10
2001
	10	7th	DNF	DNF	12	6th	8th	10	DNF	13	10	9	12	10	DNF	DNF	15th
2003
	11	13	DNF	DNF	12	DNF	DNF	9	14th	16	15th	DNF	12	DNF	10	15th

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2008	van Merksteijn Motorsport	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Peter van Merkstejin	Rank 10 and class win
2009	Aston Martin Racing	Lola-Aston Martin LMP1	Anthony Davidson	Darren Turner	Rank 13

Web links

Commons : Jos Verstappen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• official homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2008 Le Mans Series Yearbook. 2008, p. 92
2. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3484&Itemid=2
3. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3934&Itemid=2