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Max Verstappen: The Inside Track on a Formula One Star

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**THE FIRST BIOGRAPHY OF DUTCH FORMULA ONE WUNDERKIND MAX VERSTAPPEN**

Few drivers have ever shaken up Formula 1 in quite the same way as Max Verstappen. Already the youngest competitor in F1 history, having made his breakthrough in 2015 aged just 17, his debut race for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix saw him become the youngest driver ever to win a race, achieve a podium finish or even lead a lap.

As the son of F1 legend Jos and elite-level kart driver Sophie Kumpen, Max was destined to be a racing driver. And since that headline-grabbing debut, he has continued to make an indelible impression on the sport, courting criticism and plaudits in equal measure.

Sports journalist James Gray seeks to understand the outspoken nature and aggressive driving style that make Verstappen a must-watch before, during and after races, and why his Dutch fans, who turn up to cheer him on in their orange-clad droves, are quite so fanatical

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 2021

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599 people want to read

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James Gray

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5 stars
106 (16%)
4 stars
225 (35%)
3 stars
230 (36%)
2 stars
54 (8%)
1 star
17 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
Profile Image for Fiona Maria.
8 reviews
December 11, 2022
Okay, where to start? It's good that this book is about Max Verstappen, because his awesomeness alone makes up for many of the book's weaknesses.
Up until about chapter 5, it reads a bit like a fever dream about Formula 1, as very randomly all sorts of things are written about Jos Verstappen, the history of Zandvoort, the emergence of e sports and sim racing, and the father-son relationships of other F1 drivers. Some pages I had to skim to find out if it will be about Max again at some point.
From chapter 5 onwards, this is thankfully the case and there is above all a lot of coverage of his karting career, some of which I didn't know much about. However, it often seems as if the author simply made up feelings or thoughts that the protagonists might have had and presented them as facts. Personal interviews with Max, Jos and the rest of the family or even rivals on the race track would certainly have been beneficial.
Sadly only 2.5 to 3 stars. Maybe one day another author can do Max's amazing carreer justice.
Profile Image for Deity World.
1,416 reviews24 followers
September 8, 2023
Could have been a much better book yes we learn about his history and upbringing but I would much prefer to read an autobiography also there was quite a lot of personal issues in the book which I don’t agree with
Profile Image for Maria João Faria.
272 reviews1,258 followers
April 18, 2023
os capítulos são um bocado longos demais mas amei ler a história dele
8 reviews
June 8, 2022
Bizarrely paced book. The first half is very Jos heavy, and much of the first third is about... a rambling list of anything and everything that came to the author's mind about F1.
The careers of Damon and Jacques are opined upon, driver safety in the 1970s and a whole host more.
Max's cart career is then described on a near race-by-race basis, before the last quarter of the book skips whole seasons of his F1 career and discussion of teammates before a final chapter details 2021.

It's written as though the author spoke to no-one involved, least of all Max, with a very "unofficial biography" feel to it.

2.5/5 I've marked as 3, and this coming from a Max fan.
Profile Image for Lotte.
166 reviews25 followers
July 8, 2021
3,5 stars

Miles better than the previous Max Verstappen biography I read. Might be because this is a lot more recent and there is actually something to write about now. At first I was annoyed at the fact that the beginning, once again, focussed more on Jos than on Max ( one of the things that annoyed me about the other book) but the balance between information about Max and information about those who surround him was a lot better.

Do think I would have given it a lower rating had I not consumed this in audio format.
Profile Image for Alex White.
3 reviews
February 21, 2023
Not a bad book if you don’t know much about Max. Felt it went off topic at various points and first couple of chapters spoke more about Jos than Max, some of it was good, other points felt irrelevant. Would recommend if you want to hear more about young Max and how he got to F1.
Profile Image for Catalina.
259 reviews9 followers
June 15, 2023
3.5 ⭐️ because it wasn't what I hoped it will be.

The first few chapters weren't really about Max. I didn't really see the point of the historical facts since Max didn't take part in the events mentioned.

What I also didn't like was that sometimes it was hard to follow. The sentences were weird and I found myself reading some of them twice to understand what was happening.

And in a way, I wanted more from it, not just a transcript of Max's races. Even as a biography, you have to delve deeper which this book didn't really do. Yeah, I liked that I found out more about Max and his family, but other than that it was pretty lackluster and nothing I couldn't have found out from the internet or watching his races.

The only thing I know after reading this book is that he will always be one of my favorite drivers. And unpopular opinion, he would've won the Abu Dhabi race either way so Alexa play Super Max.
Profile Image for szyszkava.
249 reviews7 followers
February 2, 2024
spoko biografia, ale
- było dużo informacji które nie miały sensu w książce o Maxie np tytuł rozdziału "A Dutch flag on a Belgian racer" gdzie z 17 stron rozdziału, o Maxie zaczyna się mowa na 13 stronie

- dopiero kiedy byłam na około 40% w książce zaczęto mówić o Maxie a nie o jego ojcu jak dotąd (wręcz miałam wrażenie że to książka o jego ojcu niż o nim) i potem do końca się już czyta smooth
Profile Image for Thea’s Reading World 💛.
477 reviews
September 14, 2023
#93 in 2023

F1 is my new obsession and what got me through exam season and, as a birthday gift, I went and got the first f1 related book I saw and one of my friends recently read. I was warned that it's not just about max and it tends to dive into a lot of topics and information not necessary.
However, it was exactly what I needed as a new fan. I don't know a lot about the history of the sport and about how things work and it gave me a thorough introduction.

As a Max biography, it lacks so much. There is no actual information from max himself, only a gathering of interviews and drawn conclusions. His f1 career is mostly described through recaps of every grand prix (information you can have already by watching them back or drive to survive).
I loved that I got some background info on his teammates as well, but to be honest I knew them already from drive to survive or I was just learning them along the way.

It's probably a 4 star read because I was eating anything f1 related up. But realistically the writing style is hard to digest on some parts (the zandvoort history in particular) and it didn't stand up on its own as a biography. But it was worth the read, even as someone who's not a Max girlie 😂 don't get me wrong, I love max but off the track.
Profile Image for Kiera.
115 reviews11 followers
March 19, 2025
Unpopular opinion: I like Max. He seems like such a sweet and funny person. I hate seeing all the villain bs on DTS every season.

Popular opinion: He does drive like an ass sometimes.

Anyways, the book wasn't a such in-depth "biography". It's more of a "here's history about this time and where max's life was at during that time". And of course the honorable "here's another reason to hate Jos" moment with it too.

If you want to know more about Max, maybe not the best book since most of this has already been turning into memes. But it is an easy read!
Profile Image for Danielle.
278 reviews133 followers
January 26, 2023
Interesting read. Good insight not just into Max but also the work and money required to get into Karting and Formula 1.
Profile Image for annabel lecklider.
66 reviews
August 15, 2025
I read this because currently (2025) it is the F1 summer break 😢😭😥☹️ and I need some racing stuff to keep me going 😚

I did not vibe with this book at all.

The best part of this book was the family drama about the Verstappens at the beginning. And definitely the most interesting part.

Then it went downhill a little…

I feel like this was not about Max at all.
At the start we talked about his parents for a long long time. I get mentioning parents and their background and everything they did for the drivers but this literally could have been a book on Jos Verstappen.

Also, this book got off topic a lot I feel. There was a whole chapter about virtual driving that I feel was unnecessary. Like scratch the whole chapter.

Then towards the middle/end when I thought we were going to actually hear about Max, we didn’t.
The book was basically just an announcer of various different races. Like race after race. It was a whole bunch of statistics and who placed where and who overtook who. Very confusing. I want to hear about Max’s life. Like if I wanted to, I could just go back and watch random races where max crashed for the fourth time of the season.

Did I learn anything new? I would say yes… I was unaware of all the times Jos went to court and and all that he “attempted”😬 (again this could have been a Jos Biography)

The George Russell book by this author was wayyyy better. I might be a little bias against Max though…

I guess I’ll just rewatch Drive to Survive.
Only 17 days left till this next Grand Prix 🥲

Anyway, let’s all remember that Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team is the best. 🩵 ☝️
Profile Image for Olivia Regis.
1,206 reviews21 followers
June 25, 2025
Max Verstappen: La Biografía narra el meteórico ascenso del neerlandés y los sacrificios detrás de su éxito. Combina datos técnicos con la dimensión humana, mostrando la gloria y las presiones del automovilismo profesional.
No hace falta ser experto en Fórmula 1 para disfrutarlo, aunque los fans lo valorarán más. Gray destaca la influencia familiar y la exigencia desde la infancia que forjaron a Verstappen.

Profile Image for vaalenchaveez.
197 reviews2 followers
Read
November 11, 2024
no quiero poner una puntuación al libro porque es una biografía, se siente raro puntuar una vida. lo único q tengo q decir es que james gray hace ver a jos verstappen como el gran mentor de max, cuando fue denunciado por su ex pareja por intento de asesinato, y por la madre de max por acoso y agresion
Profile Image for Kyra.
16 reviews1 follower
December 15, 2024
The author didn't get the most famous lestappen 'nothing just an inchident on the race' quote correct and therefore I question this books credibility.

Also for a book about max, it really ISN'T about Max. You learn more about Jos, Vettel, and random drivers from the 80s than you do Max Verstappen himself.
Profile Image for Mark McKenny.
407 reviews2 followers
November 9, 2024
Obviously could be a bit more detailed but then you’re looking at an 800 page book. As it is, this is the perfect biography of the man that will soon be 4th home World Champion.
Profile Image for Joi.
143 reviews1 follower
February 5, 2025
Siempre he admirado la fortaleza de Max, y este año realmente se convirtió en una leyenda.

Al principio nos cuenta sobre la vida de su padre, Jos, lo cual me parece una buena idea para poder entender la personalidad de Max; y nos da el contexto de la F1 en esos años.
Me hubiera gustado que se centre más en él, y personalmente hacer mas énfasis cuando consigue su primer título, y la batalla con Lewis.

Realmente fue un placer ver correr a Max este año, consiguiendo su cuarto título, y demostrando que es uno de los mejores de todos los tiempos, obvio que como fan de Lewis, deseo que ahora en Ferrari consiga su octavo título, solo dire "Simply Lovely".

Lo recomiendo si te gusta la F1, y para tener un pantallazo de la vida de Jos Verstappen.

Citas:
■ “«Nosotros [con Raymond] tomamos las decisiones, siempre hablamos, siempre tenemos la conversación: cada acuerdo lo discutimos siempre juntos. Los tres nos llevamos muy bien y es muy bueno tener a la gente adecuada en el lugar adecuado»”. [Pág 71]
■ “«Max se ve a sí mismo conduciendo un coche de Fórmula Uno un día. Porque creció con eso, no hace falta decirlo. ¿Sabe lo difícil que es llegar tan lejos? Aún así creo que es su sueño.
Empezó a correr cuatro años antes que yo. Tenía ocho años cuando me puse al volante por primera vez. Esto ya le da a Max una gran ventaja. Tiene talento, la actitud adecuada y, algo importante, en la Fórmula Uno, debido a mi propia carrera, tenemos muchos contactos en ese mundo»”. [Pág 101]
■ “Cuando dejó a Max en una estación de servicio, debió ser un impactante momento de comprensión para ambos: para Max, sobre la profundidad de la pasión y la ira de su padre y para Jos, sobre hasta dónde llegaría para enseñarle a su hijo una lección”. [Pág 131]
■ “Max rara vez comete un error. Y si comete un error, sabe cómo corregirlo y no volver a cometerlo”. [Pág 170]
■ “«Su estilo de conducción también estaba evolucionando: sus adelantamientos seguían siendo luchadores e intransigen tes, como descubrió Leclerc en Austria, pero su capacidad para mantener la calma cuando las cosas no iban como él quería o cuando era necesario un stint tranquilo y controlando los neumáticos, estaba creciendo»”. [Pág 238]
Profile Image for Carina.
91 reviews
May 13, 2023
2,5 Sterne

Leider ein eher enttäuschendes Buch. Der Aufbau der Biografie ist verwirrend, die ersten 4 Kapitel (und damit knapp 90 Seiten) haben für den Rest des Buches keine Relevanz, erst ab Kapitel 5 beginnt das Buch sich tatsächlich mit Max Biografie zu beschäftigen. Davor ist es eher eine Anekdotensammlung, die immer wieder zu anderen Themen abschweift (die Entstehung der Rennstrecke von Zandvoort, die Entwicklung des E-Sports, ...). Das ist zwar zeitweise spannend, hat jedoch nicht wirklich was mit Max zu tun.

Im Verlauf des Buches wiederholen sich dann auch Abschnitte und Geschichten mehrmals. Teilweise wird sogar auf das gleiche Zitat zurückgegriffen ohne Bezug auf das vorherige Kapitel zu nehmen, was den Eindruck erweckt, dass die Kapitel ohne Reihenfolge geschrieben und dann spontan zusammengesetzt wurden.

Als F1-Fan und Person, die sich zumindest mit den aktuellen Fahrern auskennt, lernt man leider auch nur wenig Neues. James Gray scheint die Biografie aus verschiedenen Dokus, Interviews und Blogbeiträgen zusammengesetzt zu haben ohne einmal wirklich mit Max Verstappen, seinem Vater oder einem der anderen Beteiligten gesprochen zu haben. Neue Insiderinfos sucht man so vergeblich und teilweise wirkt es so, als spekuliert der Autor, was Max und sein Vater wohl gedacht haben könnte ohne es tatsächlich zu wissen.
Grundsätzlich ist gerade die Erzählung von Max Karriere im zweiten Teil des Buches aber gut gelungen, nur mehr neue Einblicke wären schön gewesen.

An einigen Stellen hätte ich mir eine kritischere Einordnung des Verhaltens von Jos (aber auch von Max) gewünscht. Aber es ist eine Fan-Biografie, da kann man sowas vermutlich nicht ganz erwarten.

Richtigen Fans, die sich regelmäßig mit Max Verstappen beschäftigen, kann ich es so nicht empfehlen. Wer gerade erst neu zum Sport kommt, wird (zumindest in der zweiten Hälfte des Buches) gut unterhalten werden.
Profile Image for Sam Jones.
1 review
November 26, 2022
An easy read but not that interesting.
The author goes off into long tangents about other stories (Damon Hill and Jaques Villeneuve’s careers for one) just to highlight a minor point in Verstappens career.
The book is more of a collation of articles/information rather than being truly insightful into Max’s career/life.
The book also makes big jumps that miss out key stages, e.g his first F1 season is afforded less than a page
Profile Image for Alex Murray.
10 reviews
June 22, 2022
Focused semi on max's life before f1, however the author got very sidetracked. One example is when they started talking about the history of zandvoort in more depth then the last few years of max's career!
Profile Image for Ellie.
14 reviews
January 13, 2023
As a Max fan I found this book very disappointing. Only 1/3 of it is actually about Max whilst the rest tends to be very Jos heavy. It was a boring read from start to end, missing out some of the best moments of his career.
Profile Image for alina.
19 reviews
July 20, 2023
tolles Buch! aber meiner Meinung nach auch viel zu viel drum herum, und zu viel über jos' Geschichte am Anfang! ansonsten mega! 🫶🏼
Profile Image for Rita Silva.
64 reviews1 follower
August 11, 2024
*4,8
Capítulos enormes mas gostei muito da história dele
22 reviews
April 3, 2025
Meh, feel like this was a copy of Max's Wiki page.
Profile Image for Milan Buno.
641 reviews40 followers
June 7, 2023
Max Verstappen je teraz na vrchole, vyhráva takmer všetko, smeruje k ďalšiemu titulu, takže sa hodí... Každopádne je to veľmi zaujímavá, pútavá kniha a vtiahne aj občasného fanúšika F1. Autor je športový novinár a cítiť to – pozadie, informácie, súvislosti. Ukazuje, ako syn legendy F1 bol vlastne odmalička predurčený na pretekanie. Ako začínal v motokárach, ako ho jeho otec k tomu viedol, pracoval s ním, učil ho.

Max bol síce zázračným, ale stále ešte dieťaťom, a Jos bol síce jeho otec a otcovia motokárových pretekárov sú známi tvrdým prístupom k svojim zverencom, práve pri ňom však panoval pocit, že neraz takmer prekročil čiaru. „‘Ty retardovaný bastard, hlúpe prasa, nikdy sa ti to nepodarí.‘ Takéto reči,“ spomína Max. „Dobre to vystihuje celé moje pôsobenie v motokárach. Keď sa mi nedarilo, otec bol na mňa vždy veľmi prísny.“

Kniha viac približuje Maxa ako človeka, nielen pretekára. Prečo býva neraz agresívnym jazdcom, prečo riskuje.
Veľmi dobre napísaný príbeh (nenazval by som to životopis, už len vzhľadom na vek Maxa). Pútavý pohľad na jeho detstvo, formovanie, jeho cestu do F1 a napokon do Red Bullu na jeho mentalitu a zaujímavé sú najmä tie súvislosti, ktoré autor odkrýva a na ktoré upozorňuje.

„Moja kariéra je dôležitejšia ako dievčatá,“ povedal Max krátko pred osemnástymi narodeninami počas spoločného rozhovoru s trikrát ženatým riaditeľom Formuly 1 Berniem Ecclestonom. „Tu dostanete iba jednu šancu – a ja ju využijem.“ Takéto nekompromisné odhodlanie je počas prvej sezóny vo Formule 1 pre Maxa Verstappena typické a aj vďaka nemu je takým výbušným pretekárom so záľubou v predbiehaní. Ak vidí medzeru, tak sa ju pokúsi využiť.
Profile Image for Nimet.
168 reviews2 followers
January 30, 2024
What do you do when you can’t watch the cars go ZOOOM on tv, finished all of drive to survive and ran out of F1 romance books? Yes, you read book about one of the drivers. At first, this book seemed really promising, but then it quickly lost its focus. The first couple chapters were all about Jos and just irrelevant historical facts about F1; which had nothing to do with Max. It was interesting to read about it, but ngl that’s not what I came for. Around chapter 5 we focus on Max again. I wish there were more interviews or like actual sources in the book; cause at times it felt like the author was speculating how he was feeling or what was going through his mind rather than stating facts. We dive a little into Max’s personal life and family; but not as much as you’d expect w a biography. Anyway, Max Verstappen’s brilliance shines through, event though the book isn’t exactly the best. I love reading about him and his personal life, this man is truly remarkable. Even if you're not a Redbull (like me) or Max Verstappen (I do love Max tho) fan, you can only admire Max’s determination and talent. Perhaps in the hands of a different author, his story could receive the recognition it truly deserves.
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