Racing
© fuji.tim
Max Verstappen’s latest link to McLaren at Spa was not about his own Formula 1 future, but a new development project for 15-year-old McLaren junior Dries van Langendonck, with McLaren confirming that Jos Verstappen and Raymond Vermeulen’s visit to its motorhome was tied to that partnership.
Verstappen announced that Verstappen Racing will support the Belgian on his path through the junior ranks, making van Langendonck the first driver outside the usual Verstappen camp to receive that backing. The four-time world champion said the project rests on two pillars: management and financial support, plus driver coaching.
Speaking in Spa, Max Verstappen said his group will work alongside McLaren and put its own money into van Langendonck’s career as the costs rise through the feeder series. “We also invest our own money,” he said. “McLaren steer their part into the budgets, but the sums in Formula 3 and Formula 2 are enormous.”
That added context to the paddock speculation that followed when Verstappen’s father and manager were seen at McLaren during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Their appearance quickly reignited talk over Max Verstappen’s own future, but McLaren said the visit was connected to van Langendonck instead.
Verstappen said he sees van Langendonck as a rare enough talent to justify that level of involvement. “Pilots of this caliber aren’t around every year. That’s why Dries is for me the first one,” he said. “He definitely has everything needed to make it all the way up.”
Van Langendonck is already part of McLaren’s driver development programme and is racing in British Formula 4 this season. Multiple reports place him at the top of the championship at mid-season with four wins. He also won the Formula Winter Series and became the youngest winner of a British F4 race when he won on debut at Donington Park.
Verstappen said the plan is not just to fund van Langendonck’s career, but to help guide it. He said junior careers can be damaged by wrong choices over teams and series, so strategic planning will be a major part of the project, along with simulator preparation and technical understanding. Those resources include Verstappen Racing’s simulator facility in Tilburg.
Van Langendonck said the arrangement adds “another layer of support and backing alongside McLaren,” including “extra simulator time at Max’s simulator facility.” He said the added support would help him keep improving as a driver.
Verstappen made clear where he believes the project should lead. “The goal is Formula 1, and we will do everything to make that path possible for him.” With McLaren already backing van Langendonck and Verstappen now adding money, management and coaching, the Belgian’s development has become a shared investment from one F1 team and the sport’s reigning champion.