The spotlight in the Formula 1 theatre of self-glorification holds no appeal for him. Only a handful of insiders can truly claim to have contributed to the success of Max Verstappen. Richard Pex is one of them, but the Limburger never steps into the limelight. For once, he looks back. “Look, it gives me goosebumps again.”
Richard Pex, a roofer by trade. Along the A2 near Echt stands the result of decades of hard work within this family business. A beautiful building from which about 70 employees earn their living. Richard took over the reins from his father a long time ago; now two of his sons – Yard and Jorrit – have taken over the management of the 61-year-old. He now has all the time to take a ‘behind the scenes’ tour and reminisce. There are plenty of memories, which naturally come to the surface during a tour of the company. The shining light sign ‘Pex Roofing’ could easily have been supplemented with ‘Max Verstappen Museum’.
Every Item Tells a Story
In one of the company’s halls, virtually everything – and these last two words are no exaggeration – related to Max Verstappen is stored. Richard Pex jokingly calls it ‘some stuff’ that has been kept. From the tiny quad bike, which toddler Max used to race around the former company hall in Maasbracht, to the first Formula 1 car he was allowed to drive. Also on display: overalls, shoes, engines that were used, parts. “Every item tells a story,” says Richard.
Many trophies have also found a place. The kart with which Max became world champion in France in 2013 seems to be still humming, unpolished with even the original, worn-out tires mounted. It brings back memories. “This is the last kart Max drove. After that, the big Formula 1 adventure began.”
The Beginning
Richard Pex knew Jos Verstappen from TV and the stories he read. While the racer was trying to control around 800 horsepower, Richard was managing just one. Initially, his domain was the equestrian world, but it consumed so much time that he sought refuge in karting. “Because you don’t have to take care of and feed a kart every day.” It was 1998, Richard couldn’t have known who would cross his path a few years later, with all the consequences that entailed.
He looks back. “At some point, I got to know Jos and Sophie from the kart track in Genk. I was there driving with my two oldest sons. But also with Stan, who was then 4 years old. At one point, Sophie came up to me with Max and said, ‘Max wants to know how old Stan is’. I said 4 and then Max said, ‘See, I’m already 5 and I still have to wait until I’m 6’. Jos wanted him to wait until he was 6, but I then said to Max, ‘Do you want to drive? Sophie didn’t really want that, but we did it anyway.”
Pure Passion
A few innocent laps with major consequences, as Richard realizes more than twenty years later. “A few days later, Jos called me. ‘Yeah, thanks a lot’, he said. ‘Now I have to buy Max a kart’. That’s how it started. We then agreed to go karting together more often. Sparring and training. I also drove, but I couldn’t keep up with Jos. ‘Oh, you have a better engine’, I said to him. ‘Okay’, Jos then said, ‘then I’ll get this engine ready for you for the NK in Amsterdam’. I was flying during the training sessions, but at one point I thought: is that Jos there? He was curious about how it was going and had come to Amsterdam especially. ‘Can I sleep in the trailer, because I also want to see the race tomorrow’, he asked. Typical Jos: pure passion. We clicked right away and that’s how our friendship began.”
The Continuation with Pex
At that time, Verstappen’s kart team was run by Frans (Max’s grandfather). Jos was still active in Formula 1 and couldn’t be everywhere. Frans and Jos were also busy with the boys who drove for the team, and that sometimes came at the expense of Max. “In Genk, the mini’s were allowed on the track for fifteen minutes every hour. Then Max would come and say, ‘Dad, I want to drive too’.
At one point, Jos had had enough. He then said, ‘This is not good. I’m always busy with others and then my own son comes to ask to drive and I don’t have time for that. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to stop with the team. From now on, I’m only going to focus on Max. He’s so eager, wants to drive so badly. Do you want to do that with me?’
Richard didn’t have to think long. “My sons also drove, so that seemed like a good idea. ‘Okay, then we’ll buy a bus and do it together’, Jos then said. From that moment on, we were almost always together, on the kart track or in Maasbracht at the business. There, in the company hall, we set up a workshop and started working from there. I think I’ve been to all of Max’s kart races. It was an incredible time. Hard work, but wonderful.
Jos was busy every day, from morning till night. Max Verstappen went to school, sometimes skipping it, but he was always involved afterwards. Either tinkering or driving. They were often 18-hour days, as I also had my own business. But we had a lot of success. Jorrit became world champion (in 2006) in Portimão. Jos was his mechanic. Max was there, Stan, our wives. It still gives me goosebumps. Especially the look from Max to Jorrit at that moment. You could see the passion in Max’s eyes, the desire to achieve that too. I remember Jos patting him on the head and saying: your time will come. Unforgettable.
Everything had to give way for the higher goal
It quickly became clear that Max had the talent and the gift to make it far in the racing world. But what happened behind the scenes and what was needed to optimally facilitate young Max is somewhat underexposed. Richard experienced it all from day one and was fully drawn into it. “Jos had no brakes. Everything had to give way for the higher goal. Jos always said: Max has to perform, then the rest will follow. He made it as difficult as possible for Max; the bar was constantly raised. Jos thought Max should race with older boys. He was lucky to often spar with Jorrit, who was five years older.
What Max didn’t know is that Jos sometimes added lead to his kart and was only satisfied when he was going as fast as the others. Every Wednesday afternoon we went to Genk. I picked up Jorrit and then we took the bus to Maaseik to pick up Max from school. He always ran to the schoolyard first to get on the bus. Rain or shine, I think we were in Genk 48 out of 52 Wednesdays. Going on vacation was another thing. The bus came along, because we always went on vacation near kart tracks. The agreement was: one day at the beach and the other day the boys could go karting. That quickly became karting every day. Often on unknown tracks and then Jos would say: ‘Lap 8 is the pole position time. Not lap 25, because then you already know the track’. That’s how it went,” Pex recalls.
