Jos Verstappen, father of four-time Formula One world champion Max, survived a horror rally smash in Belgium on Sunday. The 54-year-old was forced to retire from the Rallye de Wallonie after losing control of his car and hitting a tree.
Verstappen Sr is the reigning national rally champion in Belgium and had been competing without his regular co-driver Renaud Jamoul. Instead he was partnered with Jasper Vermeulen and luckily both drivers escaped unhurt from the wreckage.
Images from the scene of the crash show the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 overturned near trees with a wheel torn off and severe damage. The route is reported to be high-speed and very demanding due to tight, bending sections alongside quick straights.
'It was a violent crash that sent his Skoda into a roll,' the organisers posted on Facebook. 'The crew is OK, but the car is badly damaged and retirement is inevitable.'
Jos Verstappen made his name in Formula 1 in the mid-1990s and early 2000s and also took part in the Le Mans 24 Hours (LMP2 class), which he won in 2008, before turning to rallying.
He survived a huge crash in May last year at the Royal Rally of Scandinavia in Sweden - part of the FIA European Rally Championship. Verstappen admitted they entered a corner 'too quick' before ending up in a ditch and rolling over in their Skoda, cracking the windscreen and causing other damage.
He and navigator Jamoul retired from the race but fortunately escaped unscathed after what was only Verstappen's third-ever start on an unfamiliar gravel surface.
'I think I went a little bit too quick into the corner and then I missed the apex, the inside of the corner, I was in the loose gravel, on full grass and I couldn't make the corner,' Verstappen admitted at the time.
Max's father is also a regular in the F1 pitlanes where he was a vocal presence during the notorious Christian Horner affair last season. 'There is tension here while he remains in position,' Verstappen said of Horner. 'The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can't go on the way it is.'
It came as the husband of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell fought for his future at Red Bull amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female member of staff, which he denied. Horner officially left his role as Red Bull Racing team principal and CEO on September 22 last year.
