Race of Scions

The world of Formula One enjoyed a jolt of much needed excitement during the recent Spanish Grand Prix, when young Max Verstappen became the youngest driver to ever win a Grand Prix—at the tender age of 18. Verstappen can now add this F1 landmark to another he earned last year when became the youngest F1 driver of all time at the age of 17! But what I found most interesting about Verstappen’s win, and the Spanish GP in general, was the relationship between him and the race’s odds-on favorite Nico Rosberg—Verstappen? Rosberg? Why do those names seem so familiar?

Obviously, those names should be familiar to any fan of Formula One since Nico is the son of 1982 Formula One Champion Keke Rosberg and Max is the son of Formula One podium finisher and Le Mans class winner “Yumpin” Jos Verstappen. It was interesting to me to realize that two of the arguably hottest drivers in Formula One today are scions of famous racing fathers. But, in fact, when you look across professional motorsport today, doesn’t it seem like there is a disproportionately larger number of racing scions than there used to be?