Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen (born 4 March 1972) is a Dutch former racing driver. After his F1 career Jos Verstappen has won races in A1 Grand Prix and Le Mans Series LMP2 races (winning the 24 hours of Le Mans LMP2 class in 2008). Prior to his F1 debut in 1994, he was also the German Formula Three champion and Masters of Formula Three winner in 1993. Jos was considered the most successful Dutch F1 racing driver before he retired and began mentoring his son Max in Formula 1.

Early career

Verstappen began karting at the age of 8, and was participating in national competitions not long after. In 1984 he became Dutch junior champion. He remained successful, and won two European titles.At the end of 1991 he made the transition to car racing. He drove in Formula Opel Lotus, a class in which identical cars compete against each other. He won the European championship in his first year, and got an offer to drive in Formula Three with Van Amersfoort Racing, who also developed other drivers such as Christijan Albers, Tom Coronel and Bas Leinders. During that European winter season, he raced in New Zealand Formula Atlantic.