Johannes Franciscus Verstappen is a Dutch former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Benetton, Simtek, Footwork Arrows, Tyrrell, Stewart, and Minardi.
31 Facts About Jos Verstappen
2.
Jos Verstappen was the German Formula Three champion and Masters of Formula Three winner in 1993.
3.
In Formula 1, Jos Verstappen raced for seven different teams during eight seasons.
4.
Since leaving F1, Jos Verstappen won races in A1 Grand Prix and Le Mans Series LMP2 races, winning the 24 hours of Le Mans' 2008 LMP2 class.
5.
Jos Verstappen has coached his son Max from an early age in karting, through to Max's successes as an F1 driver becoming the 2021 and 2022 Formula One Drivers Champion.
6.
Jos Verstappen began karting at the age of 8, and was participating in national competitions not long after.
7.
Jos Verstappen drove in Formula Opel Lotus, a class in which identical cars compete against each other.
8.
Jos Verstappen first drove a Formula One car when he tested for the Footwork Arrows team alongside Gil de Ferran and Christian Fittipaldi at the Estoril circuit in Portugal.
9.
At the Pacific Grand Prix Jos Verstappen ran 6th but spun off on cold tyres immediately after a pit stop.
10.
Jos Verstappen took another third place at the Belgian Grand Prix due to Schumacher's post-race disqualification from victory, and a fifth place at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
11.
Out of a race drive, Jos Verstappen did some test driving with Benetton and Ligier.
12.
Jos Verstappen ran fifth at Interlagos before retiring, and finished sixth in Buenos Aires.
13.
Out of a regular drive for 1998, Jos Verstappen tested for Benetton early in the year, but the team would not hire him as a permanent test driver for lack of sponsors.
14.
However, the car was uncompetitive, the team struggled to run two cars to the same level and Jos Verstappen did not perform significantly better than his predecessor.
15.
Johnny Herbert was signed to partner Rubens Barrichello for 1999 and Jos Verstappen was left casting around for a drive again.
16.
Jos Verstappen teamed up with old Tyrrell friends Rupert Manwaring and Harvey Postlethwaite, planning to test the new car in 1999 and join the series in 2000.
17.
Not long after, Honda changed their plans from becoming a team to a works engine supplier and Jos Verstappen was again without a Formula One seat.
18.
Jos Verstappen tested for the Jordan team in case Damon Hill decided to retire before the end of the season but this came to nothing when Verstappen's testing performance was underwhelming and Hill resolved to see out the season.
19.
The package was more reliable but less competitive and Jos Verstappen was hurt on occasion by indifferent qualifying form.
20.
Jos Verstappen re-signed to drive for Arrows in 2002, but was dropped at the eleventh hour in favour of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
21.
Jos Verstappen returned to the cockpit in 2003 with Paul Stoddart's European Minardi team, considered the tail enders of the grid.
22.
Out of a drive for 2004 Jos Verstappen was considered as a replacement for Giorgio Pantano at Jordan partway through the season but was unable to fit in the car and began looking for drives outside Formula One for the following season.
23.
Jos Verstappen achieved two podium places, and scored a total of 17 championship points which makes him the second best performing Dutch driver in Formula One to date, beaten only by his son, Max.
24.
In December 2007, Jos Verstappen announced that he would take part in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans race, as well as enter the 1,000 kilometre races in the Le Mans Series.
25.
Jos Verstappen participated in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Lola-Aston Martin.
26.
In 1996, Jos Verstappen married Belgian ex-kart driver champion Sophie Kumpen, whose cousin is NASCAR Whelen Euro Series racing driver Anthony Kumpen, and whose uncle is former motocross and GT endurance rally driver Paul Kumpen.
27.
In December 2008, with the couple effectively separated, Jos Verstappen appeared in court in Tongeren, Belgium, charged with assaulting his wife, Sophie Kumpen.
28.
Jos Verstappen was found not guilty of assault, but guilty of threatening Kumpen in text messages and of violating a previously issued restraining order.
29.
Jos Verstappen was fined and sentenced to three months probational, suspended prison sentence.
30.
On 29 November 2011, the media reported allegations that Jos Verstappen had assaulted his ex-girlfriend; Jos Verstappen claimed to only have had a discussion with her.
31.
Jos Verstappen was the test driver for the aborted Honda F1 project.