Verstappen Chose To Break His Neck At The Turkish GP Instead Of Being Laughed At By His Father

Max Verstappen (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Max Verstappen said Thursday he would rather have his head fall off than to laugh at his father, Jos, for using a neck pillow to survive the brutal G-Force at the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend.

The Red Bull team champion will not give his father, who is a former F1 driver, an excuse to tease him against Turn 8, the longest at the Istanbul Park Circuit, which is capable of generating 5G gravity on the rider's body for six seconds.

That much power is enough of a concern for most teams. Many of them put extra cushioning on the riders' neck rest, but Verstappen says he won't.

"I remember my first test in F3. The next day, I couldn't keep my neck straight and then put on a pad, and my father laughed at me for using it," said the Dutch rider as quoted by Antara from AFP, Friday, November 13. .

"From that day on, I refused to use the pads on the side of my head. I prefer to have my head off rather than race with the pads. So it will be the same this weekend."

Meanwhile, team-mate Alexander Albon, who has been warned to improve his performance to keep his bench, does not want to emulate Verstappen and says, "I'd rather not have my head off."

As for the Renault team rider Esteban Ocon will follow Verstappen's lead, even though he knows it will "kill his neck".

"My engineer asked me if I wanted to use bearings, but I'm not going to use them, let's try," Ocon said.

Ocon's teammate, Daniel Ricciardo agreed with that.

"My engineer asked the same thing. I laughed at him so now we'll see if my confidence strikes back."