On Sunday, Max Verstappen maintained his reign as the dominant driver in Formula One by winning the US Grand Prix for the third consecutive year after starting sixth on the grid. The Dutchman had already won the title of World Drivers’ Champion before to the race at Austin, Texas’ Circuit of the Americas, where he recorded a season-high 15 victories. The 26-year-old hasn’t been able to achieve one success, though, and it has everything to do with Mexican soccer player Hirving “Chucky” Lozano rather than him.
The driver for Red Bull Racing, who was born in Belgium to a Dutch father (former Formula One racer Jos Verstappen), loves soccer and is a passionate supporter of PSV Eindhoven, which Lozano returned to in the summer after spending four years with the Italian team Napoli. The USMNT trio of Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman, and Sergiño Dest will also be a part of the club’s 2023–24 lineup.
Verstappen was challenged to pick between Champions League success and failure in Formula One during an interview with Dutch channel Viaplay Sport Nederland while he was in Austin. Because of his deep affection for PSV, he was unsure about his answer when he said, “In that scenario, PSV wins the Champions League and I don’t win a race for a whole year.”
Nine years before Verstappen was born, at the end of the 1987–88 season, PSV defeated Benfica to win the European Cup, the forerunner of the Champions League. However, since then, the financial landscape of European soccer has altered significantly, making it nearly impossible for clubs from “smaller” nations to compete and win.
