While all the cynics and critics threw their hands up in the air asking the same question a couple of years ago; ‘how young is too young for Formula One?’. Max Verstappen decided to show them that age is but a number, if you have the skill and determination, any thing is possible.
At the age of 17, Max Verstappen started to rewrite the history books of Formula One even before the young Dutchman was a full time Formula One driver. Some of the records he now holds will probably never be broken.
We glance through the early part of his career and take a look at Max Verstappen's journey of becoming the youngest Formula One grand prix winner.
Max Verstappen was born in Hasselt, in the east of Belgium to a family that was fueled by motorsport. His Father Jos Verstappen was a former Formula One racing driver who has two podium finishes and 106 grand prix starts to his name. His mother Sophie Kumpen had raced in competitive karting while Anthony Kumpen, his uncle had competed in endurance racing and is currently driving in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and is also the 2014 champion in the series as well.
Max got his first try at a kart at the age of four. Soon after at the age of seven, he started competing in his home province. A year later, he won the Belgian mini category title at the age of eight. In 2009, Verstappen won all 21 races in the season to retain his title. At around the age of 10, in 2007 Max had started competing the Rotax Max karting series and had also won the championship that same year.
[caption id="attachment_70101" align="alignnone" width="642"] Max Verstappen during the early stages of his karting career. PHOTO: www.kartcrg.com[/caption]
Verstappen found himself in the Dutch Minimax karting series with a CRG kart, and by the end of the year, the 10-year old took the championship title in that as well. After winning almost every race on the national level, by 2007, Max Verstappen was racing internationally.
A couple of years later, Verstappen was racing for a factory team which used the CRG karts, in the international karting circle. Verstappen repeated his streak of performance and won numerous races and Europe and world titles along the way. But this was just the tip of the iceberg for the young Dutchman.
In the world and European karting level, Verstappen raced until 2012, and then graduated to single-seaters. Racing at a more competitive level, Verstappen still managed to shine through as he took five podiums and two victories that year. But finally in 2014, Verstappen found a seat for himself in the European Formula 3 championship and delivered promising results from the beginning.
[caption id="attachment_70104" align="alignnone" width="642"] Max Verstappen at the 2014 Macau European F3 race. PHOTO: Redbull Content Pool[/caption]
After a few great qualifying results and podiums finishes, Verstappen had clinched pole and the victory on his sixth race. After that victory, Verstappen was second in the championship standing making him a contender for the F3 title. In addition to that, it also caught the attention of the leading formula one teams. Not getting distracted by all of the attention, Max still managed to finish third in the European F3 Championship standings in 2014.
During the course of the season, Red Bull announced that Max Verstappen had joined their junior driver programme and put him on the roster as Test Driver for Torro Rosso. During the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Verstappen’s record breaking Formula One career had just begun.
[caption id="attachment_70107" align="alignnone" width="642"] Max Verstappen during his first seat fitting with Torro Rosso in 2014. PHOTO: Redbull Content Pool[/caption]
Verstappen got his first chance to drive a formula one car during free practice at Suzuka. The drive made him the youngest driver ever to take part in a formula one weekend at the age of 17 years and 3 days. Verstappen also tested for the team that year during the US Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix weekends as well.
As Sebastain Vettel announced that year that he would leave Red Bull for Ferrari at the end of the season, Red Bull announced, Daniil Kvyat would be promoted to Red Bull as his replacement along side Daniel Riccardo. Red Bull then signed Verstappen as a full time driver for Torro Rosso to fill the empty seat.
At the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, as Verstappen started the race in the Torro Rosso to make his F1 debut, he also become the youngest Formula One driver to start a race in the history of the sport, aged 17 years, 166 days. By the next race in Malaysia, the teenager brought home seventh place to score the first points of his career. He became the youngest driver ever to score a championship point on his second formula one race 14 days later. Verstappen ended his debut season with 49 points to his name standing, 12th in the championship.
[caption id="attachment_70109" align="alignnone" width="642"] Max Verstappen during the 2016 Russian GP PHOTO: Redbull Content Pool[/caption]
During his second F1 season, after the fourth race, Red Bull promoted Verstappen to the senior Red Bull Racing team to swap seats with Daniil Kvyat who would now race with Torro Rosso for the rest of the season. Verstappen was set to debut at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix with Red Bull and showed great pace during practice, right out of the gate. On his debut with Red Bull, Verstappen out qualified both heavily experienced Ferrari drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel to start fourth on the grid.
Verstappen was following Ricciardo in the early part of the race. The team decided to split strategies around half way through the race. This gave Verstappen the lead on lap 30, making him the youngest driver ever to lead a grand prix lap. Verstappen charged all the way to the finish line with a flawless drive while constantly defending his position from a determined Raikkonen. When the chequered flag dropped, Max Verstappen became the youngest winner in formula one history at the age of 18 years and 228 days. It was his 24th grand prix start.
[caption id="attachment_70072" align="alignnone" width="642"] Max Verstappen celebrates with the team in the pit lane after winning his first F1 race at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix . PHOTO: Red Bull Content Pool[/caption]
Verstappen was two years and 210 days younger than former record holder Sebastian Vettel. In addition to that, he is also the first ever Dutch F1 driver to win a grand prix and the second ever Dutch driver to stand on the podium after his father who placed third on two occasions back in 1994. Certain records the Dutch teenager holds will probably never be broken as the governing body has now put a minimum age of 18 years for a driver to compete in Formula One.
While many people might still be cynics about it saying you can’t judge a driver by a single qualifying session or a single race. However, none of them can deny the fact that Max Verstappen is a rare talent and at a very young age, the teenager has immense maturity behind the wheel of a racing car. No one can predict the future, but one can say without a question of a doubt, that Max Verstappen is possible a future world champion.
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