Money ‘counted out’
Max Verstappen is currently, in all probability, the highest-paid driver on the grid (it’s a head-to-head with Lewis Hamilton, also considering personal sponsorships), but even the Dutchman had to be a bit careful with his expenses at the beginning of his career.
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Max Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, interviewed by Formule 1 magazine, recounted an amusing anecdote dating back to 2014, the then 17-year-old Verstappen’s only single-seater season – in the European F3 championship – before his F1 debut in 2015 with Toro Rosso.
Max Verstappen had reached an agreement with Toro Rosso to participate in three Friday free practice sessions in Japan, the United States, and finally in Brazil. In Interlagos, the trio consisting of Max-Jos Verstappen and manager Vermeulen arrived with exact money.
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“We had a zero budget, and for this reason, we took only one hotel room for the three of us at the Hotel Transamerica in São Paulo – Vermeulen’s words – a crib, a sort of small bed, had been arranged for Max. It was at the foot of the bed, and naturally, that Thursday he went to sleep on time, while Jos and I went out for a drink. We returned to the room a bit later and perhaps made a bit too much noise. Max woke up and complained because he had to drive the next day, and Jos told him not to whine, that everything would be fine. We will never forget all those episodes; we depended on each other and had a lot of fun”.
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