Max Verstappen extreme training revealed: 'Not everyone would have survived'

Helmut Marko has revealed the extreme training methods employed by Max Verstappen during his formative years en route to becoming a four-time F1 champion.

It is widely known that Verstappen's father, Jos, was a hard taskmaster, pushing his son to the limit during his karting and junior formula days to ensure he became the driver he is today.

Now, Red Bull's former advisor, who formed a close friendship with the 28-year-old Dutchman during their time together at the Milton Keynes-based team, has outlined the lengths Verstappen Sr went to with young Max.

"You always have to be the first, the best - those words from his father, the son literally absorbed," said Marko, speaking to German publication Die Zeit.

"Hard schooling was on the limit, though. An example: near Milan, towards Lake Garda, there are two go-kart tracks where Max had to drive until his fingers were blue. Whether it was only 10 degrees or raining, none of that mattered.

"But he still benefits from his father's toughness. When Max takes to the track in bad weather, he is immediately two seconds faster than the others."

Although aware of how extreme the sessions were, asked whether he felt the end justifies the means, he replied: "Yes, but not every boy would have survived that psychologically."

Verstappen was obviously the second driver he came across who left him seriously impressed upon meeting them; the other being Red Bull's other four-time champion, Sebastian Vettel.

Both drivers naturally shared similar traits.

"Vettel, when he sat across the table from me at the time, had just won 18 out of 20 Formula BMW races," said Marko. "He was dissatisfied that he hadn't won the other two as well. That unstoppable will has stayed with me.

"Verstappen gave the impression that in his 15-year-old body was the mind of a 25-year-old man. Max had a clear goal, which can be traced in part to the extremely effective and hard training by his father."