Max Verstappen: Schumacher was just the ordinary "Uncle Michael"

Thanks to their shared experience at Benetton, Markle Schumacher and Joss Verstappen became close friends, which made the two families often go on holidays together.

Recalling childhood memories, Max Verstappen said he was only "3 or 4 years old" at the time, so he had no idea he was traveling with world champion Schumacher. Instead, he's just the average "Uncle Michael."

Verstappen said: "I was only three or four years old at the time, I only knew that it was Uncle Michael, the others were very good, and he was also a family man, but I didn't know he was the world champion at all. ”

"You can see from our family photo albums and videos that Mick (Schumacher) and Gina (Michael's daughter) have been in it, which is amazing, and I still have fond memories of those days today."

"We also used to drive two-seater go-karts, a car for Michael and Mick or Gina, and a car for my dad and me. While they sometimes put the steering wheel under our control, if the situation becomes too dangerous, they take over quickly," Max said with a laugh.

Today, both Max and Mick are F1 drivers, with the former winning the 2021 World Championship and Mick having just finished his rookie season.

Although the two sides have been in touch and practice go-karting together for years, both were personally mentored by two F1 fathers, Verstappen believes he and Mick took a somewhat different route into F1.

As the son of a seven-time world champion, Mick is under more pressure, "His father is a record seven-time F1 world champion, which makes his start difficult, even in the karting era, there is always media attention around him, and the attention of the F4, F3 and F2 championships has become higher, but he has a good environment and a lot of people who care about him." ”