Jos Verstappen dodged jail for assault before running Max’s F1 career with iron fist, now he’s fighting Christian Horner

IT can be hard to stand up to family.

But that's exactly what Max Verstappen has to do.

His father Jos has ruled over his son's career with an iron fist.

A former F1 driver himself, his private life has also been the subject of some scrutiny.

After an incident in 1998 at a karting track where another man suffered a fractured skull, he avoided a suspended jail sentence after agreeing an out-of-court settlement with the victim.

In 2008 he appeared in court, charged with assaulting his wife, Sophie Kumpen and while he was found not guilty of assault, he was found guilty of threatening Kumpen in text messages and of violating a previously-issued restraining order.

And in January 2012, he was arrested following accusations that he drove a car into his ex-girlfriend but was released two weeks later after the charge was withdrawn.

Verstappen Snr had been plotting his son's rise to the top alongside his chum Raymond Vermeulen, who acts as the F1 star's manager.

Assisted in no small part by his son's skill behind the wheel, Verstappen became the youngest ever F1 driver when he made his debut in 2015 at the age of 17 years and 166 days old.

Integrated in the Red Bull family who control four seats in F1, together they accelerated his career path.

But now, though, as a three time world champion - perhaps four by the end of this season - the 26-year-old simply must now go it alone.

He's become embroiled in the toxic battle between his father and his team boss Christian Horner after his dad told reporters his son would quit the all-conquering team if he had to.

The row comes after Horner was cleared of inappropriate behaviour following an internal investigation by Red Bull.

And then a smear campaign of leaked WhatsApp messages designed to take him down.

It's not known if Verstappen Snr had a role in the murky plot to force Horner to quit. Or indeed why he decided to call for his head in the first place.

Toppling Horner, who has the support of the race team, also threatens the position of his close ally, F1's greatest-ever car designer, Adrian Newey.

Insiders say that Max has privately offered his support to Horner but is unwilling to do so in public given his father's stance.

This week he will face a grilling in Jeddah about his position, putting him awkwardly in the spotlight, when incidentally his dad won't be there to front up to his own words, having scurried back home.

Like others before him, most notably Lewis Hamilton, who famously cut paternal ties with his dad Anthony in 2010, now is the time for Max to go it alone. Be his own man and make his own decisions.

Whatever you think of Horner, his alleged behaviour, or Red Bull HQ's failure to disclose the report, Max has been thrust into a difficult choice.

Whether he stays with Red Bull - against his father's wishes, or choses to jump ship - presumably to Mercedes.

It is the biggest decision of his career however, he must be allowed to make it on his own.

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TALK about being tone deaf.

Amid all the accusations of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem posted an image on his Instagram account during the Bahrain GP weekend.

It was taken in 2004 at the inauguration of the Bahrain circuit where he sat next to Prince Andrew and with Max Mosely.

The caption read: "Bahrain GP memories".

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F1 will launch their F1 Academy this week at the Saudi GP, aimed at helping young women racers reach F1.

I think the series is a brilliant idea and has the backing of all the F1 teams and F2 and F3 team, Rodin.

A total of 15 drivers will race  in identical cars powered by a 165-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

Brits Abbi Pulling and Jessica Edgar will drive for Rodin while the daughter of motorsport legend Ken Block, Lia Block, also stars.

The series comes after the excellent W Series ran into financial troubles and went into administration.

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THE leaked messages claiming to be evidence from the Horner investigation were all sent via WhatsApp.

Ironically, the social media app owned by Meta - which was formerly named as Facebook - have recently started sponsoring Red Bull's rivals, Mercedes, with the logo plastered across their race car.

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FIA chiefs have urged F1 staff not to post images of their accreditation on social media through fear it could be used by counterfeiters to make bogus paddock passes

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IT was not just Red Bull going into a meltdown in Bahrain.

Alpine - the former Renault team - saw their drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finish in 19th and 20th place respectively.

A dreadful start to the season and to make matters worse, it emerged that technical director, Matt Harman, and head of aerodynamics, Dirk de Beer, both resigned before the race team flew out to Bahrain.

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NOT to be out-done by their bigger-brother, the drivers at the Red Bull B-term - Racing Bulls (formerly AlphaTauri) also had a spat in Bahrain.

Daniel Ricciardo took issue with his teammate Yuki Tusnoda at one point and said over the team's radio: "What the f***! I'll save it... he's a f***ing helmet!"

The Aussie later said: "I came on the radio and was trying to stay cool.

"A bit of immaturity, let's say. I'm being very sensible right out but let's call it immaturity."

Meow.

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