Formula 1

Minardi official announcement on second driver Verstappen

Jos the Boss is back. FAENZA, ITALY, January 9, 2003 - The KL Minardi team today confirms the news that many Formula One fans have been eagerly awaiting: hard-charging Dutchman, Jos Verstappen, will join Britain's highly regarded Justin Wilson in ...

Edited: Jan 11, 2003, 3:05 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Jos the Boss is back.

FAENZA, ITALY, January 9, 2003 - The KL Minardi team today confirms the news that many Formula One fans have been eagerly awaiting: hard-charging Dutchman, Jos Verstappen, will join Britain's highly regarded Justin Wilson in the Faenza squad's 2003 driver line-up. The announcement was made by Minardi Team Principal, Paul Stoddart, at a press conference held in Rotterdam early Thursday evening.

At 30, Verstappen brings a highly desirable combination of undoubted pace and extensive Formula One experience to the Italian-based team, having driven for Benetton, Simtek, Arrows, Tyrrell and Stewart in the course of a seven-year career in Grand Prix racing.

The Montfort-born driver's rise to motor racing's top category was nothing short of meteoric. Sensationally quick in karts, he moved rapidly through Formula Opel Lotus, dominated the German F3 Championship in 1993, and found himself debuting for the Benetton Formula One team in 1994, alongside Michael Schumacher, after regular driver, JJ Lehto, was injured in a pre-season testing accident. Amazingly, Verstappen had less than 50 car races under his belt when he started the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix.

Always regarded as one of Formula One's quickest drivers, Verstappen's best result to date was his third-place finish in the 1994 Hungarian Grand Prix. He is perhaps most famously remembered, however, for emerging singed but not shaken from a fiery refuelling incident that marred that year's German Grand Prix.

"I am very pleased to be back in Formula One and to have signed to drive for Minardi in 2003," comments Verstappen. "Up and down the pit lane, it has always been known that Minardi builds good cars and is a strong little team that has only been prevented from achieving its full potential over the years by a lack of sponsorship. If you look at the budgets of the top F1 teams compared with what Minardi has available, I think Paul Stoddart is doing a fantastic job. I'm impressed by his plans for the team and by this year's technical package, which looks strong to me. I have been around Formula One long enough, however, to know better than to make extravagant statements about a team's competitiveness before a new season begins. All I can say is that I like what I see at Minardi and I am going to do my best for the team in 2003. I also want to extend my personal thanks to Michel Perridon and Trust Computer Products for believing in me and helping me to make my return to Formula One. I'm really looking forward to the challenge."

Paul Stoddart is equally enthusiastic when talking about his new signing. "This is extremely good news," he says. "The combination of Jos Verstappen and Justin Wilson will, I believe, give Minardi the strongest driver line-up in its history. The two of them will provide just the right blend of youth and experience, and combined with an effective chassis and Cosworth Racing's powerful CR3 engine, we will definitely have a much stronger package than in 2002. Until we get to the first Grand Prix, in Melbourne, it's impossible to know to what degree the other teams will have improved over the winter and how we'll compare with them. Even so, I'd like to think Minardi could be the 'breakthrough team' of 2003."

-minardi-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article McLaren adds addittional partner

Next article Williams Jerez test summary 2003-01-06/09

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Brad Keselowski to address questions about NASCAR future and RFK exit at Martinsville

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

26 min

Brad Keselowski to address questions about NASCAR future and RFK exit at Martinsville

Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

3 h

Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways

Valtteri Bottas denies he might lose his Cadillac seat for F1 2027

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

3 h

Valtteri Bottas denies he might lose his Cadillac seat for F1 2027

AJ Foyt Racing signs Josh Pierson to multi-year deal beginning with 2027 IndyCar season

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 4 h

AJ Foyt Racing signs Josh Pierson to multi-year deal beginning with 2027 IndyCar season

Feature

Discover prime content

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying

Formula 1

United States GP

By Stuart Codling

How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts