Max engages in role playing as Jos shows he's still got it!
Published on 08 February 2014 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen and the other young drivers in the Florida Winter Series are back at work. After a well deserved rest day, the small town of Stuart hosted them as they concluded the work which began at the four day workshop prior to the Palm Beach event.
Under the attentive eye of Luca Baldisserri, the head of the Ferrari Driver Academy, the youngsters tried their hand at some entertaining role play, which covered every aspect of the life of a professional driver.
The drivers faced some tough questions to anwers
Luca Baldisserri, head of the Ferrari Driver Academy, is closely envolved in the workshops
In the morning, they had to deal with journalists, simulating a post-race press conference in the full-on Formula 1 style. Then, in the afternoon, they pretended to make a presentation to an audience of potential sponsors, journalists and friends at a big gathering to start the season. Divided into pairs, they then moved on to the simulator where, while one of them trained for the Homestead circuit, where they will race next, the other gave advice and made comments after carefully studying the data, just as would an engineer.
However, the role playing was not over yet. In the evening in fact, it was the turn of the mechanics and engineers to don the race suits to compete in an exciting kart race at the Palm Beach circuit.
Max played the role of Lance Stroll's race-engineer
Jos (far right) and his kart team for the evening
In this quasi-serious race, father Jos was part of the driver line-up. In the forty minute practice session, Jos showed everyone where Max got his talent from, as Verstappen senior claimed pole position. He continued his form in the race as he led the field of Florida Winter Series drivers in the first stint, before handing over to a team mate, whilst Max sat in fourth place.
According to Max, a fault in the timing system caused both his and Jos' team to be classified a lap down, which meant both teams finished in the midfield. Despite this potential injustice, the Verstappens enjoyed a good evening doing what they do best: drive fast, very fast!
