This last weekend Max Verstappen won the 2021, F1 Championship in Abu Dhabi, in a very tight and exciting competition with the 7 time champion Lewis Hamilton. This time it was Max’s first championship at age 24, a very well deserved title after years of hard work. I have been following Max Verstappen ever since and realized how important his father has been in his career, just check his Instagram account and see how his father is present in all the victory pictures.

The picture above represents how the relationship and bond with the father figure is key in the success of many if not all the F1 drivers and MotoGP. I mention these 2 categories because they are the top level competition categories in the world, the most demanding, competitive and costly.

Authority, love and self-determination

I have noticed through watching interviews and seeing father and son interaction in F1 and MotoGP successful pilots, that love is probably the most significant factor. The father’s love in this case is represented in unconditional support and unimaginable amounts of trust in going through whatever it takes to support their son’s career from day one, basically from the day they were born.

Developing a career starts at a very early age, it starts with carting and 50cc bikes and through years of successes paves its way to F1 or MotoGP. It is an extremely competitive sport that goes through a costly process of selection where thousands fail. Perseverance, determination, faith are key elements but most importantly financial capability. A career in motorsports is extremely expensive, it requires the purchase of expensive equipment, hiring mechanics, crew, transportation costs in order to move around the world to compete.

Max Verstappen’s career started at the age of 4 in karting, it is a career that spans throughout 20 years. And most F1 and MotoGP races started at that age around 4 to 6. Those initial years before you become successful and start winning prizes are the toughest, and the family assumes all the costs. It is a risky endeavor not only for the financial toll but also the emotional toll in which parents are literally risking their sons’ lives in tough competitions. I have friends in motorsports that have had terrible accidents at early age that made them retire from the sport.

Unsurmountable amounts of faith

Seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton is also a living example of the father and son relationship in F1. Anthony Hamilton also paved the path of success for his son Lewis who at age 6 got as a Christmas present a go-cart, the rest is history. His father left his IT job and became a contractor in order to support and invest everything on his son. The amount of faith Anthony Hamilton had for Lewis from the beginning is something unsurmountable beyond imagination. Not just only supporting a young lad in becoming successful but also breaking through a tough layer of racism in the sport.

Father unconditional support, and blind faith in the son’s success is something I have found is key in successful F1 and MotoGP pilots.

Madness and Father Love

Graziano Rossi is probably one of the most recognized MotoGP fathers, not so much for his history as a rider, but also for being the father of 9-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi.
Supporting your son in F1 is one thing, but supporting him in MotoGP is almost an invitation to suicide. F1 cars due to their chassis structure have the possibility of evolving to safety levels where the probability of dying in an accident is minimal. Motorcycles do not have that advantage, the only safety or protection that can evolve is that of the pilot’s suit and helmet, which despite having the latest in protection are extremely vulnerable. A corner exit in F1 today is at best lifts a cloud of dust. But an accidental exit from a curve in a MotoGP can mean an injury that can leave you out of the race and the championship. Not to mention what a high-speed collision with another rider or a wall can cause, and which in many cases it has caused numerous casualties in the sport over the years.
What a father must have to be able to support a child in his MotoGP career is absolute madness and confidence. In this regard, I would say that the F1 parents and MotoGP riders are similar, with the only difference that MotoGP fathers have a higher level of madness.

Key aspects for success in father son relationship

Father and son relationships are generally conflicting, they present itself in all forms and shapes. However, in F1 and MotoGP the relationship has some particular components that work together in order to create the formula of success.

Authority with Love. The father guides in the beginning with authority and makes most of the decisions. Love allows authority to not become authoritarianism, in other sense abusive. And love keeps the relationship in a field of trust and compassion.

Mutual Trust. The father has an unsurmountable amount of trust in the son’s success, and the son an unsurmountable amount of trust in the decisions the father makes. It is a relationship where both parts surrender to each other.

Passion for the sport. The passion is equally shared among father and son. The goal is not to win. The goal is to experience together the passion for motorsport and do the absolute best at it.

These three traits compose the triangle of Authority, Trust and Passion that when working together generates a powerful synergy. They create the balance necessary for the son and father relationship to work together and find the formula of success. It is a relationship that in the case of Max Verstappen was put to the test through 20 years of sweat and tears bearing fruit in the 2021 F1 championship.