The reigning Belgian rally champion Jos Verstappen was involved in a major crash on Sunday, April 26, at the Rallye de Wallonie in Belgium — the fourth round of the 2026 Belgian Rally Championship. The 54-year-old Verstappen Sr. — father of four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen — lost control of his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, hit a tree and landed on the car's roof. The driver and his co-driver escaped physically unharmed.

The incident took place during the Loyers special stage. Footage that spread across social media showed a frightening scene — the Skoda completely deformed, flipped onto its roof, a wheel torn off, surrounded by debris.

The Driver Himself Explained What Happened

After the crash, Verstappen described the sequence of events in detail on the Belgian Rally Championship's Instagram channel.

"It was a right-hand bend that I had to take in fourth gear. It was dusty, there was gravel on the surface," Verstappen explained. "I think I went into the corner a bit too fast, and at the end of the corner, the car broke away. Then we hit a post. The post whipped the car around, and then we landed on the roof."

"The most important thing is that Jasper and I came out of the car safely. It was a big impact. But we sit in such safe cars, that shows again. I'm glad we came out of it well."

Saturday's Aggressive Comeback — and One Corner on Sunday Changed Everything

Before the crash, Verstappen had been having a tough but impressive weekend.

His Saturday got off to a problematic start. He picked up a 40-second penalty for speeding on a liaison section, which dropped him to 17th overall. He also sustained additional damage to the car on the fourth stage. But Verstappen did not stop — he pressed on aggressively, won the ninth stage, took victory in the final stage at Marche-Les-Dames as well, and finished the day in third place — behind Adrian Fernemont and Maxime Potty.

On Saturday evening, Verstappen sounded optimistic: "It's incredibly exciting, and we're not giving up. Tomorrow is a new day, anything can happen."

Tomorrow was a new day — and indeed, anything did happen. Just not what Verstappen had anticipated.

This weekend, Verstappen was racing without his regular co-driver Renaud Jamoul, who had to undergo surgery for an ankle injury and was unable to take part. In his place, Jasper Vermeulen stepped in — a completely new partner for Verstappen, and notably, one working in English for the first time: "It was Jasper's first time using notes in English since we normally stick to our usual system, but everything went smoothly and the car felt great," Verstappen had said on Saturday night.

A Former F1 Driver, A Rally Champion

Jos Verstappen raced in Formula 1 between 1994 and 2003 — seven teams across nine seasons: Benetton, Simtek, Footwork, Tyrrell, Stewart, Arrows and Minardi. He made 107 Grand Prix starts, never won a race, but recorded two podium finishes — both third places in his remarkable 1994 rookie season alongside Michael Schumacher at Benetton: Hungary and Belgium. The Hungarian podium made him the first Dutch driver ever to stand on a Formula 1 podium.

After F1, his career continued in other directions — in 2008, he won the LMP2 class at the Le Mans 24 Hours. In recent years, he switched to rallying. Last year he claimed the Belgian Rally Championship title — and entered Wallonie this weekend as the event's defending winner, having taken victory in 2025 alongside Jamoul.

Modern Rally Safety — A Living Proof

Verstappen's words — "we sit in such safe cars" — were not a casual compliment.

Modern rally cars at Rally2 specification are among the safest vehicles in motorsport. The steel roll cage, the FIA's HANS device, multi-point harnesses, fireproof suits, specialist seats — everything works together to save the driver from a fatal outcome, even when the car itself is completely destroyed.

The scene of Verstappen's Skoda — flipped onto its roof, the front end smashed, a wheel torn off — and yet two crew members who walked away on their own. This is the scene known across the world of motorsport: "The car is replaceable. The driver is not."

Still on Hot Tongues — The Conflict With Schumacher

Verstappen Sr.'s rally weekend ended in a violent physical crash. But in parallel, his presence in the Formula 1 world was also burning hot — through a war of words.

Recently, former driver Ralf Schumacher criticised Red Bull on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast, painting a bleak picture of the Milton Keynes outfit. "Things are really heating up there," he said, adding that Verstappen had "lost an important voice in his camp" following the exit of Helmut Marko — the 82-year-old Austrian who left Red Bull GmbH at the end of 2025 after more than two decades. Schumacher described the team as "a bit chaotic" with "no proper external communication" and the car as "a disaster." He also questioned why Max Verstappen has effectively become the team's only public voice — a burden, Schumacher argued, that should not fall on the reigning champion.

Verstappen Sr.'s response was short and sharp on X: "Ralf talks a lot off bullshit."

Schumacher later revealed the two had spoken privately: "He was not rude at all, but made it clear that he thinks differently. Again — I like Jos, I like Max. So as far as that is concerned, everything is fine. I think it is also a difficult time for them now, also for a father who is not used to, after all these years and all these successes, suddenly having to answer or explain things."

The Contrast: Max's Silence — and His Prophetic Words

While Jos was crawling out of the wreckage of his Skoda in Wallonia and fighting verbal battles online, Max Verstappen remained characteristically silent. The four-time world champion has not publicly commented on his father's crash — a typical approach for Max, who keeps family matters firmly separated from the paddock.

But in a previous interview, Max had explained precisely why he would never follow his father into rallying once his F1 career ends. Those words, in retrospect, read as almost prophetic:

"I think it's really cool, but I just think about if I make a mistake and I hit that tree. I mean the tree is not moving. That, for me, is my limit. That, for me, is something that I don't want to do. It's just too high of a risk. And I know that sounds maybe a bit silly, but in Formula 1 at least or most of the time, when you crash, there is a barrier."

On Sunday morning in Wallonia, his father hit exactly that tree.

Instead, Max's entire focus is locked on the upcoming Miami Grand Prix — the first race of the season after a five-week break following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds due to the Iran War.

It is a striking juxtaposition: while Verstappen Sr. survived high-speed rolls and podcast controversies in Europe, Verstappen Jr. prepares to bring order to the track in America. At Red Bull, as the world can see, there is never a quiet weekend for the Verstappen family.