F1 Star Max Verstappen Appears on Cover of SI Kids

After claiming the Formula One drivers’ world championship last year, Max Verstappen is adding another accolade to his already remarkable career: Sports Illustrated Kids cover star. 

Verstappen, 24, appears on the July/August issue of SI Kids after winning the 2021 world championship in thrilling fashion over seven-time title winner Lewis Hamilton. The two drivers went into the final event of the season–the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix–even on points, but the Red Bull star narrowly came out on top in the race, becoming the first Dutch driver to win a world championship.

After a 19th-place finish and a DNF in his first three starts, Verstappen has dominated the 2022 F1 season as well. In his last eight races he has five wins and seven podiums, including a second-place finish last weekend in Austria, making it seem as if that early-season bumpy patch was just the defending world champ toying with his competition.

That was the theme of the cover of the July/August issue of Sports Illustrated Kids. Verstappen posed for photographer Thomas Lovelock in Barcelona in May playing with a toy model of the car he drove to the 2021 title. (The shoot didn’t distract the Red Bull driver—he won the race, his third victory in a row.) Verstappen also gave explained to Kids how growing up in the sport molded him, his love of e-racing, F1’s future in the United States. To read the Kids story, go here.