Max Verstappen has again shown that heroes not only exist on the circuit. In a moving and hardly known story, the triple world champion Formula 1 secretly canceled his full racing program to fulfill the last wish of a seriously ill boy. What he did afterwards caused tears in the medical staff, the boy’s family – and with thousands of fans worldwide who eventually saw the story.
Eleven -year -old Elias from Innsbruck, Austria, suffered from a rare and aggressive brain tumor. His condition deteriorated quickly, and doctors indicated that he had only a few weeks to live. Despite his illness, Elias remained positive and combative – with one big dream: meeting his idol Max Verstappen. Elias followed each race, knew the on-head on the on-head and always wore a Red Bull Racing-Pet, even during his chemo treatments.
His parents contacted the Verstappen team through a foundation, without too many expectations. But what happened then, no one could have foreseen. Max Verstappen canceled-without communication to the press-his entire schedule for preparations for a promotional F1 weekend in Asia. Instead, he went on a private flight to Austria, without cameras, without a press, only with his manager and a small gift under his arm.
He met Elias in the hospital. The boy was speechless when Verstappen entered his room. The two spoke to each other for more than an hour. Max took the time, listened to Elias’s stories about his favorite races, joked with him about team radios and handed him an original Red Bull helmet with a personal message: “For my brave champion-keep racing, in your way.”
But what happened after that, everyone got deep. Just before he left, Max quietly asked the doctors and the parents if he could give Elias one more thing. The next day he had a special simulator taken to the hospital at his own expense, exactly as Elias who once described in an interview as “my dream”. Max had ordered his team to give him the same settings as his own training simulator in Monaco. Elias rode his “first Grand Prix” with Max Verstappen by his side – virtual but lifelike.
The story only came out weeks later, after Elias died shortly thereafter. His parents shared it with the permission of Verstappen, who initially did not want it to become publicly known.
“Max has given our son a smile that we will never forget,” said Elias “mother. “He was not a driver that day, he was a friend.”
Max Verstappen is a tough champion for the outside world. But for those who know this story, he is much more than that. A true person. A real hero.
