Formula One superstar Max Verstappen is going to be a dad!
The Red Bull star, 27, and his girlfriend Kelly Piquet have announced they are expecting their first baby together.
The pair announced the news in a joint social media post showing a picture of them both with their hands on Kelly’s growing baby bump.
‘Mini Verstappen-Piquet on the way ❤️,’ they wrote in the caption, adding: ‘We couldn’t be happier with our little miracle.’
This will be Max’s first baby, while Kelly – who the sportstar started going out with in 2020 – has a daughter Penelope from a previous marriage with former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat.
Daniil and Kelly were together for two years from 2017, and they welcomed Penelope months before their separation in 2019.
The news comes at an exciting time for Max, as he has already become F1 World Champion for a fourth consecutive year before the season end after a rip-roaring start to the 2024 calendar, packed with wins.
Kelly and Max became Instagram official in January 2021 after he shared a picture of them on the beach and wrote: ‘Let’s make 2021 a year to remember in many ways. Wishing you all success, love and happiness just as I found mine.’
Max joined the F1 ranks in 2015 as the youngest ever competitor to do so at just 17.
In 2016 Max took over from Kelly’s ex Daniil at Red Bull, and went on to become the youngest race winner too, securing a total of 63 wins in his career so far.
F1 runs through Kelly’s veins as her dad is former racing driver Nelson Piquet, while Max’s father is also former F1 driver Jos Verstappen.
Kelly is a Brazilian and Dutch model, columnist, blogger, and public relations professional.
She spent her childhood living with her mum, Dutch model Sylvia Tamsma in the South of France before moving to Brazil aged 12.
After school – which she attended in England – Kelly moved to New York City, where she majored in international relations at Marymount Manhattan College.
While in New York, Kelly held various roles in fashion – as a stylist assistant at Vogue Latin America and as a buyer for Bergdorf Goodman – and she also started modelling, which is the career she’s most known for.
-While he rarely opens up about his private life, Max told Time Magazine in an interview last November about his home life with Kelly and her five-year-old daughter.
‘I’m not the father, that’s not the aim,’ he said, adding: ‘It’s always very important that she has a good relationship with her own father, which she has.
‘But I see her every day when I’m at home. We get on very well. She’s very cute.’
Last year Kelly opened up about why her world doesn’t stop to cater for Max’s career in an F1-inspired interview with Vogue Netherlands.
‘Ultimately, this is Max’s job. Would you normally bring your girlfriend or partner to the office?’ she said.
‘I want to wake up every day with the feeling: Today I am going to achieve something, otherwise you will lose your strength, your energy, your light. I am a happy and grateful person.’
This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
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