As he watched his dad's van pull back on to the Autostrada without him, Max Verstappen was struggling to digest what had happened. In all of his 11 years and 11 months on this earth, he'd never seen his dad as angry as he was at the go-kart track a couple of hours earlier. And he'd certainly never been left alone at a gas station in the south of Italy. This seemed pretty serious.
There was only one option left: call Mum.
As he sat waiting for his mum, who was in a separate car a little further back on the same road, Max was still working the mistake over in his head.