José Verstappen

Johannes Franciscus Verstappen (born 4 March 1972) is a Dutch retired racing driver who competed in Formula One for Benetton, Simtek, Footwork Arrows, Tyrrell, Stewart, and Minardi.

In 1984 he became Dutch junior champion.

He remained successful, and won two European titles.

At the end of 1991 he made the transition to car racing.

He drove in Formula Opel Lotus, a class in which identical cars compete against each other.

He won the European championship in his first year, and got an offer to drive in Formula Three with Van Amersfoort Racing, who also developed other drivers such as Christijan Albers, Tom Coronel and Bas Leinders.

During that European winter season, he raced in New Zealand Formula Atlantic.

Verstappen was the German Formula Three champion and Masters of Formula Three winner in 1993.

In Formula 1, Verstappen raced for seven different teams during eight seasons.

Subsequently, in German Formula Three, he won several international competitions, including the 1993 Marlboro Masters and the German Formula 3 championship.

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.

The test took place on 28 September 1993, two days after the Portuguese Grand Prix was held at the same circuit.

Despite the large increase in power (from a 175 bhp Formula Three car to the 750 bhp of Formula One), Verstappen set a time that would have qualified him in the preceding race on his fourth timed lap, and improved his time by more than a second after 65 laps.

His best lap time of the day was 1:14.45, which was only 0.07 seconds slower than regular driver Derek Warwick had lapped during qualifying, and would have placed him tenth on the grid.

He tested again on September 30 and was lapping near his existing record after five laps, but then crashed the car, ending the test early.

From 1994 through 2003, he scored two podium finishes in his career, the first Dutch F1 racer to do so.

After the test, Verstappen was contacted by every Formula One team except Ferrari and Williams, and was eventually signed as the Benetton team's test driver for the 1994 season.

After a crash in pre-season testing by regular driver JJ Lehto (who broke a vertebra), Verstappen drove in the first two races of the season as a substitute, partnering Michael Schumacher and made his Formula One debut at the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix.

During the race he collided with Eddie Irvine, which triggered a multiple accident also involving Éric Bernard and Martin Brundle.

Verstappen's car somersaulted, but he emerged unharmed.

At the Pacific Grand Prix Verstappen ran 6th but spun off on cold tyres immediately after a pit stop.

Lehto was fit for the next race at Imola, but his performances in subsequent races were disappointing and he was rested by Benetton following the Canadian Grand Prix, allowing Verstappen to return to the race seat.

One of the most dramatic incidents affected Verstappen at the German Grand Prix.

During his first scheduled pitstop during the race, fuel leaked onto the car after the fuel hose was disconnected.

The car, with Verstappen in it, was engulfed in flames for several seconds.

As was usual at the time, Verstappen had slightly opened the visor of his helmet for the pit stop, but apart from slight burns to his nose, he was uninjured.

After this incident the fuel delivery hose was modified to incorporate a fail-safe cut-out system.

A high point in this season was Verstappen's third place during the next Grand Prix in Hungary, Schumacher having allowed Verstappen to unlap himself on the final lap to pass Martin Brundle's stricken McLaren-Peugeot.

He 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.

A curiosity was his accident during a practice session for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, in which Verstappen rammed his car into the pit wall causing debris to fly up and destroy a TV installation.

Due to this accident, this equipment is now protected from the race track by acrylic glass.

For the last two races of the season, Verstappen was replaced by the more experienced Johnny Herbert in a bid to win the Constructors' Championship for Benetton.

Although the team was unsuccessful in this aim, losing out to the rival Williams team, Herbert was signed for the 1995 season instead of Verstappen.

In he was loaned to Simtek by Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore.

Despite some strong showings (including running 6th at the Argentine Grand Prix before a poor pit stop and subsequent gearbox failure. Verstappen only finished once in the five races he drove for the team due to technical difficulties. The team had deep financial troubles and went bankrupt after the Monaco Grand Prix. Out of a race drive, Verstappen did some test driving with Benetton and Ligier (then part-owned by Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw). Briatore decided against taking up his option for Verstappen in 1996, signing Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger to drive instead.

In he drove for the Footwork team.

Since leaving F1, Verstappen won races in A1 Grand Prix and Le Mans Series LMP2 races, winning the 24 hours of Le Mans' 2008 LMP2 class.

Verstappen has coached his son Max from an early age in karting, through to Max's successes as an F1 driver becoming the 2021, 2022 and Formula One Drivers' Champion.

Jos has also served as a manager for Max.

Verstappen began karting at the age of 8, and was participating in national competitions not long after.