Why is Max Verstappen's last name transliterated with a Ф ('F') instead of a В ('V')?

Question

Russian news articles about Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, for example this recent one, always seem to transliterate his last name as Ферстаппен instead of (what I would expect) Верстаппен. What is the reason for this? Pronouncing his name in Dutch with an F would sound rather odd.

The same article transliterates the name of one of his opponents, Valtteri Bottas, as Валттери Боттас. Is this because that would cause the 'е' to be pronounced as (using IPA notation) ɪ (like e.g. in велик)? If so, wouldn't using an э, so Вэрстаппен, make more sense? Or am I overthinking the difference in pronunciation between Ф and В?

Answer 1

Wikipedia indeed mentions that this corresponds to practical Dutch transliteration, as you can clearly see from the article linked. A Dutch "v" is usually transliterated as "в"; we say "ван Дамм" and "Велдховен", not "фан Дамм" and "Фелдховен".

However - and this fact may be quite annoying to the Dutch — quite often, if the name sounds German enough (and Verstappen does indeed sound that way), it's mistakenly transliterated that way. In fact, in past times, it used to sometimes happen even with English names (see the pic - yep, it's Бертран Рассел).

Once a mistake is made, it can linger for a long time, if not forever, because people sort of get used to it.

Answer 2

Because it makes a difference between W and V, W is usually transliterated as В or У (for example, Dr. Watson, in different translations, is доктор Ватсон or доктор Уотсон, but the first one is the more popular), and V transliterates as Ф. This may also depend of the original language — in this case, Dutch.