Jos the Boss!! (Jos Verstappen)

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Product:	Jos Verstappen
Date:	25/10/01 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Aggressive, determined, Very talented

Disadvantages: Understated, His cars are hardly stars, Isn't recognised for his good driving

Holland. Aaah what a lovely place. Home of Edam cheese, tulips and of course one of the worlds best football teams (face it they are better than England). So why is it that their motorsport heritage has been about as successful as England has been with skiing.

Maybe I'm being cynical. Of course there are motor racing drivers from Holland. But the best is Jos Verstappen who is currently knocking about for Arrows in the Formula One world championship. Regarded as 'Jos the Boss' in his native Netherlands, Verstappen has had a most up and down carrer. So up and down in fact it makes Blackpool rollercoaster look like it was designed with a ruler.

So how can a driver from a country who cares about motorsport as we care about American Football become part of the most elite of drivers in the world. When he was young, Jos got into driving quickly and saw the trophy gallop towards his cabinet. After numerous wins he moved up to the Benelux Formula Opel championship - a kind of German equivlent to Formula Renault - and dominated winning the title in his first attempt. It was then that some people - some important people - decided the boy had some talent. He moved onto the German Formula Three who only a couple of years before was grooming some people called Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen - heard of them? His pace was stunning and even shocked the F1 teams who saw this young and unknown Dutchman drive to glory in just his 2nd year of proper racing. It wasn't long before Jos was watching the F1 managers clambering over themselves to get him to put pen to paper.

Jos needed some time to decide so in the meantime he took some thinking time - driving for the Footwork team for the last 3 rounds of the 1993 F1 world Championship. He jumped into his seat and drove like a demon to qualify for his first ever GP with ease and almost out-qualify his team mate. Bearing in mind Verstappen's F1 experiance was second t
o none, his driving was a God send for the cash strapped Footwork who was paid handsomely by Benetton to use Verstappen as their 1994 test driver. Despite the side lined job the Dutch got his break in early 1994 when regular driver JJ Lehto crashed and broke his neck.

However, Verstappen's fortune had begun to elude him. He had been thrown in at the deep end and he didn't seem ready to take off his arm bands. His debut for Benetton at the Brazilian GP was a disaster as in the race he crashed heavily giving himself several bruises. Despite this he carried on where he was almost killed at the German GP in one of the most famous images ever seen on T.V. Verstappen pulled into the pits for a routine stop. however, the nozzle was faulty and caused fuel to spray over the car onto the hot metal sparking a massive inferno which if it got out of control could have killed many people. Luckily, Verstappen survived and drove the rest of the year strongly. Two 3rd places at Belgium and Hungary saw Verstappen make his case but it came too late. He was ousted by Johnny Herbert and was left without a drive for 1995.

Fortune came his way as he was offered a drive by Simtek. However, despite strong performances - or as strong as the slow car could go - the Simtek team folded mid-way through the season. The money had dried up after Roland Ratzenbergers death for Simtek in 1994 and the team struggled to get into 1995 and once they had got there the team was plummeting into spiralling debts signalling the end for the team and possibly Verstappens career.

Luckily he got a drive for Arrows in 1996 but it was a sparse year and his form in the early years was all but forgotton. A move to Tyrrell in 1997 hardly improved things and after a poor year was out of the job again. Fortunately for him, Verstappen was offered a drive for the Stewart team mid-way through the series after resident driver Jan Magnussen failed to deliver the goods.
he duly took it but his performances - especially against the talented Brazilian Rubens Barrichello - were poor and 1999 was again another defunct year with Verstappen out of the job.

A quiet year in 1999 was rounded off when he was offered a drive with Arrows who were promising to offer a car that would get him points. His winter form proved him right as the Arrows began to outshine the Mclarens. Their proper race form was a little more mundane but for the first time ever Arriws was up on the time sheets and Jos Verstappen was up there for the first time since 1994. points in Italy and Canada saw the Dutchman finish 12th in the championship. Unsurprisingly a 2001 contract with Arrows was winging its way to his post box.

Indeed it did and Verstappen was hopeful to match his 2000 pace. However, as you may have seen, Verstappen and his slow engine and his slow team mate struggled to pick up the points and slid further down the field. a point in Austria was all that Verstappen had to show for his efforts. However, performances in Canada where he was sure to finish in 6th place until he crashed with 4 laps to go and of course that race in Malaysia where he ran in 2nd for most of the time to gradually drop back to 7th place showed his potential to take the car to a new level. Therefore that 2002 Arrows contract was on the way to him which he duly accepted.

I believe Verstappen still has it in him -even Michael schumacher has said he is one of the best understated drivers in the world and I still think he can do well in a good car. Now that Arrows has a new Cosworth engine, Verstappen should be heading for a better year in 2002.

I say good luck to him and hope 2002 will bring better fortunes.

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