[Yohan Poncha]

An interesting article on fathers and son F1 stats:

https://racingnews365.com/eclipsed-o...on-fathers-day

Unsurprisingly, a number of world champions have children who have gone on to follow in their footsteps and reach F1, but both being able to clinch a title is somewhat less common.

There are also two examples of the opposite: sons who have gone on to eclipse the achievements of their fathers.

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The first F1 champion to pass the achievements of his father was Jacques Villeneuve. The 1997 drivers' champion was already a Champ Car title holder, having won the series in the Indy 500 in 1995, when he joined Williams for the 1996 F1 season.

He impressed immediately, finishing his debut season in second behind team-mate and champion Damon Hill.

[Sudarshan42]

Jos Verstappen is definitely not the best father-figure example to celebrate on Father's Day Max still gets petrol station abandonment flashbacks and casually dumps his trauma on unsuspecting reporters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUPUy08TqmY

Other famous fathers are of course Keke Rosberg, who was there to celebrate son Nico's championship win in 2016; Anthony Hamilton, who worked 3 jobs so he could support Lewis' karting aspirations. Unsung dads are everywhere too, like Checo Perez's and Felipe Massa's dads, who are routinely seen at F1 events cheering their sons on. Massa's dad is now infamous for the premature 2008 Brazilian GP celebrations right before the Timo Glock incident

[sh3lby]

In this regard I feel Anthony Hamilton is the best father figure we have on the grid.
The way Sir Hamilton and his father handled Abu Dhabi 2021, with class and humility and let the controversial stuff stay behind closed doors - even if you dislike Hamilton as a driver he definitely earned massive respect as a person that day. I daresay Jos and camp wouldn't have handled it as well?

And yes I've also read that Mr. Hamilton worked 3 jobs and really struggled to get Lewis into F1 and I respect him for that. Not easy with the racial doscrimination in his youth as well.

[CapKoura]

Originally Posted by sh3lby

I daresay Jos and camp wouldn't have handled it as well?

They didn't. Jos had walked away from the paddock and only returned when the safety car came out. Not to mention his violent reaction when Max binned the car on the last corner of that insane qualifying lap in Saudi one race prior.

Anthony Hamilton is a true role model, consoled his son after he was technically robbed of a title, and then congratulated the Verstappens on their win. I doubt I would've had the same calm demeanor had I been in either of their shoes.

[supermax]

Originally Posted by Sudarshan42

Jos Verstappen is definitely not the best father-figure example to celebrate on Father's Day Max still gets petrol station abandonment flashbacks and casually dumps his trauma on unsuspecting reporters.

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=HUPUy08TqmY

Other famous fathers are of course Keke Rosberg, who was there to celebrate son Nico's championship win in 2016; Anthony Hamilton, who worked 3 jobs so he could support Lewis' karting aspirations. Unsung dads are everywhere too, like Checo Perez's and Felipe Massa's dads, who are routinely seen at F1 events cheering their sons on. Massa's dad is now infamous for the premature 2008 Brazilian GP celebrations right before the Timo Glock incident

Haha! Nice video! Max's upbringing seems to have much the same notes as that of Andre Agassi Agassi's autobiography, 'Open', is quite a nice read, and he makes it amply clear that he actually hated the sport due to his overbearing father who was obsessed with making sure his son became the best tennis player ever! Jos seems to be a lousy human being and was never a great driver, but seems to be a good if harsh teacher. I guess he was the subject expert on all the things that were not desirable in a successful F1 driver, and he did his damnedest to ensure that Max didn't get those traits!

[Sudarshan42]

Lot of high achievers had such dads to motivate and keep their kids focused. Cricket's Yuvraj Singh is one such example- Yograj Singh moved him away from skating to cricket much to Yuvi's chagrin.

But at what point does motivation turn to downright abuse? That's the path to avoid in order to keep your kids sane while also soaring to new heights in their fields. As parents ourselves, we'd do well to avoid becoming the Jos's and Yograjs of the world and channel more constructive approaches like Anthony Hamilton and others. Anthony Hamilton especially also had to fight racism and shield his son from it as best as he could, which was a lot.