IndyCar commentator and former Formula 1 pundit Will Buxton has revealed a gesture by Max Verstappen that left him teary-eyed.
Known for his straight-talking attitude, Verstappen continues to be a divisive figure in the paddock, but stories emerge of a different side to the Dutchman.
Buxton has recalled an encounter with the four-time world champion back in 2015, when Verstappen had begun to make waves in F1.
Buxton joined Verstappen in driving in the Florida Winter Series the previous year, sharing the track as the two men’s careers darted in very different directions.
The Briton, now the voice of IndyCar on Fox, spoke of the revere surrounding Verstappen, highlighting the “lovely guy” the Dutchman is away from the circuit.
“Even his rivals have to take their hat off and say on his day, we just can’t do what Max does,” Buxton said on the Up To Speed podcast.
“He was talked about from the youngest of ages. It almost seemed that he was always going to make it to Formula 1. He was always going to be a World Champion.
“But the guy that you meet, the guy that you get to know away from the guy on track, is just a lovely guy.”
A special memory of Max Verstappen for Will Buxton
Buxton then recalled a memory of Max Verstappen involving his late father, who sadly passed away six months after the encounter.
Verstappen’s gesture to his father stayed with Buxton, who recalled the story with fondness.
“One of my favourite memories of him, and I met him for the first time back in 2014 when he was just stepping out of karts into single seaters, when he made his debut in F1, my parents came to the Belgian Grand Prix that year.
“My dad was quite ill and left us about six months afterwards. But Max wasn’t to know that at all.
“It was raining, and so we ran into the Red Bull motorhome to get out of the rain, and Max was there, and he said, ‘Oh, are these your parents.’ I said, ‘Yeah, this my mum, my dad.’ And Max introduced himself, and he turned to my dad and he said, ‘Oh, by the way, Will taught me everything I know,’ because we had that day racing together back in 2014.
Total rubbish, obviously, but a lovely thing and totally unnecessary. He didn’t have to say something like that. And my dad just beamed. And he could tell everybody that, until sadly he wasn’t here anymore.
“Max will never know how much that meant. It was lovely.”
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