15/05/2016
NEWS STORY
Jos Verstappen has revealed that he is to play less of a part in guiding his son's career from now on.
The announcement came following Max' blistering qualifying debut for Red Bull in which he put his car on the second row alongside teammate Daniel Ricciardo, just behind the Mercedes duo and ahead of the Ferraris.
Having taken Max to his first karting event when he was 4, the F1 veteran has guided the youngster's career and since his arrival in the F1 paddock has been an ever-present.
However, amidst speculation that Jos might have played a part in some of the in-house friction at Toro Rosso this year, which is understood to have resulted in an acrimonious division between Max, teammate Carlos Sainz and their crews, the youngster's promotion to Red Bull gives all concerned a chance to step back and allow the driver to find his feet and develop at his own pace.
"I think at this stage of his career it's better if I put another step back," Jos told reporters in the Barcelona paddock. "He's now where he needs to be and it's about Max and not about his dad.
"I'm allowed in the garage, that's no problem," he insisted, responding to suggestions that the Red Bull hierarchy had effectively barred him. "I did my job until now and he is in a top team now, where he should be, and it's fine."
Confirming that he will also stop producing a regular newspaper column, Jos said: "I don't want to be in the front now. I want to be in the back. Now it's up to Helmut, to Christian and to Max, to say what they want to say, and not up to me.
"If he had stayed at Toro Rosso, I would have stayed how it was," he admitted. "In this situation, I think it's a good thing to step back a little bit more. He knows exactly what to do."
Then again, perhaps Marko and Horner remember how the phrase, Verstappen-slappen, came about.
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