Jos Verstappen
The Dutchman has certainly seen plenty of highs and lows in his intermittent Grand Prix career, and he might have blossomed into a major talent had he found an environment in which his undoubted abilities were nurtured, and a long-term relationship with a team established. As it turned out, his career has been largely unfulfilled. It is a case of ‘what might have been’ for his adoring Dutch supporters.
The young Jos might not have pursued the path of motor sport at all after he was hospitalised following a bad crash in his first-ever kart race as a ten-year-old. Soon, however, the passion to compete was all consuming, and he quickly became one of Europe's outstanding kart racers, before moving to Formula Opel Lotus in 1992. He demolished the opposition in the Benelux series, and then turned his attention to the Euroseries, immediately putting the cat among the pigeons with his forceful and often brilliant driving.
Naturally much sought after, he opted to race a WTS Dallara-Opel in the German F3 championship in 1993 and cut a swathe through the opposition in this class as well, winning eight races on his way to the title. Victory in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort helped attract the Formula One teams to his door and a test at Estoril for Footwork was so impressive that Benetton immediately moved to sign him on a long-term contract.
An injury to JJ Lehto meant that Verstappen's debut was not long in coming. Being thrown in at the deep end as number two to Michael Schumacher is not the easiest way to start a Grand Prix career, but Jos did well in his first two appearances before Lehto returned. After the Finn's confidence had quickly been sapped, Verstappen was brought back into the team and soon made headline news worldwide when he escaped from a fiery inferno when his Benetton caught fire at a refuelling stop during the German
GP. Luckily he suffered only minor burns and, in the next race, scored his first podium finish. His meteoric rise came to an abrupt halt when Benetton decided a proper learning season with Simtek was in order, but he once again caught the eye with some impressive qualifying performances in his short spell with the team before it folded.
In 1996, the young Dutchman restarted his GP career at TWR Arrows, and caused quite a stir in the early-season races when he took the unfancied car into the top half of the timing sheets. Inevitably, as the year wore on, Verstappen struggled to impress as the Footwork chassis, lacked development, and was overhauled by others.
A move to Tyrrell should have brought more reward, but the team was plainly uncompetitive in 1997, and the hard-charging Verstappen could only take satisfaction that he was mostly the equal of his team-mate Mika Salo. Ken Tyrrell was impressed enough to want to retain the Dutchman's services for the following year but, having sold out to Craig Pollock, the former team owner resigned from the organisation when Jos was passed over in favour of pay-driver Ricardo Rosset.
Luckily, another F1 chance soon presented itself when Verstappen replaced the out-of-favour Jan Magnussen in the Stewart line-up in mid-1998. In his half-season with the outfit Jos fared little better than his hapless predecessor however, and it seems that there was more than a little friction with team owner Jackie Stewart.
Harvey Postlethwaite certainly thought highly of Verstappen's talents, however, and employed him to help in the development of Honda's Grand Prix challenger. Sadly the former Tyrrell guru's untimely death brought proceedings to a halt, and contributed to an about-face by the Japanese car giant, which took the project to British American Racing. For Verstappen, it was a return to his father's karting centre in Holland, where he was left tinkering with his beloved machines and waiting in hope for the phone call that might resurrect his career.
An eleventh-hour deal with former employer Arrows rescued the Dutchman, and he partnered Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa in the seemingly potent A21-Supertec. Testing with the new French engine showed promise, and the aerodynamics of the car made it particularly threatening in terms of straightline speed, but accidents and mechanical unreliability combined to thwart much of Verstappen's season. Two scrapping points finishes – in the wet in Canada and at the tragic Italian GP – hinted at his still untapped ability, however.
For 2001, it again looked as though the Dutchman may be left in the wilderness, with a couple of the Arrows team's Dutch sponsors looking set to quit the category. In the end, however, it was the luckless de la Rosa who got the bullet in favour of Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi, leaving Verstappen as undoubted team leader for the year. A question mark hung over the potential of the Asiatech (nee Peugeot) V10s to be used, but both they and the compact A22 performed adequately without setting the F1 world alight. More surprising, however, was Verstappen's inability to out-qualify rookie team-mate Bernoldi, although his lowly starts did allow for some remarkable first lap, low-fuel load, rises through the order.
Whether it was his early race performances or his links to potential sponsors that endeared him to team boss Tom Walkinshaw could not be proven, but Verstappen was 'rewarded' with an extension to his contract midway through the 2001 campaign, apparently ensuring him of employment in 2002. This situation altered before the start of the season, however, with Bernoldi being confirmed for a second season, courtesy of his Red Bull backing – the drinks brand having agreed to back Arrows in 2002 – and with Heinz-Harald Frentzen securing the second seat. Verstappen, in much the same manner as de la Rosa before him, found himself ousted in spite of his contract and once again without a drive.
The following season saw little of 'Jos the boss' as, with no drive in F1, the Dutchman spent the year on the sidelines. However, in January 2003, and after many rumours, it was finally confirmed that Verstappen would again return to the grand prix scene, courtesy of a drive at Minardi-Cosworth. Paired with British rookie Justin Wilson, the Dutchman again put in some blistering first lap performances, but was generally overshadowed by the form of the former F3000 champion, who found himself snaffled by Jaguar mid-season. Verstappen was then left to lead the team alongside Danish newcomer Nicolas Kiesa, but could not drag the PS02 higher than the ninth place he managed in Canada.
The season held enough promise that Jos engaged in talks with team boss Paul Stoddart for 2004 but, as with similar negotiations with Jordan, they came to nothing, muddied by the involvement of sponsors. Nick Heidfeld's on-off move to Williams gave the Dutchman one last chance to try out with the Jordan team, but Verstappen cancelled the test. In the end, the opening closed when Jordan refused Heidfeld permission to leave, and Jos' only F1 participation came at the wheel of Minardi's F1x2 passenger cars.
Rumours continued to surround the Dutchman's future at the top of the sport, and it appears that his F1 days are now over. A new chance to show his talents on the race-track opened up for him with the A1GP Series in the cockpit of the orange liveried Team Netherlands car. Thus far the temperamental Dutchman involved has been an involved in his fair share of incidents, but his brilliance shone in Durban when he snatched victory in the feature race on the final lap from Neel Jani's brakeless Team Switzerland car.
Sadly, Jos then fell out with the Netherlands team boss Jan Lammers, and subsequently failed to reach an agreement with former boss Paul Stoddart in negotiatiations to race for Minardi in Champ Cars for 2007, raising question marks once more over the Dutchman’s competition future.
