Current Max Verstappen

2015 sees the arrival of the youngest driver ever to sit in an F1 car. Max Verstappen was born on 30th September 1997 and, assuming he makes the grid in Australia, will only be 17 years and 167 days, beating Jaime Alguersuaris' record by 1 year and 323 days (assuming my maths is correct).

How can such a young man be ready for F1? As the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen Max started racing karts at 4½ years old. In 2006 he won the Belgian Minimax Championship in the KF5 category and in 2007 he won both the Dutch and Belgian titles as well as the Belgian Cadet Championship.

In 2009 he won the KF5 Flemish Championship and moved up to International Karting. In 2010 Max finished 2nd in the KF3 World Cup, won the Euro Series and the WSK World Series. In 2011 he again won the WSK World Series and moved up the KF2 class winning the WSK Master Series and the South Garda Winter Cup in 2012. In 2013, at 15 years of age, Verstappen won the World KZ Championship, which is highest level of karting.

For 2014 Max moved up to European Formula 3. He finished 3rd in the Championship winning 10 of the 33 races, more than those who finished above him in the title race. Max was recruited into the Red Bull Young Driver Programme in August 2014 and only 6 days later was announced as one of the drivers for Toro Rosso in F1 for 2015. Apparently he was also being courted by Mercedes for their young driver programme so you have to wonder how much the pull of an F1 seat at Toro Rosso drove the decision to go with Red Bull.

Having already taken part in 3 Friday sessions as a test driver Max Verstappen is the youngest person ever to take part in a Grand Prix weekend. If he acquits himself well during 2015 many will say it is an inspired decision. If he turns into a mobile chicane or treats F1 like a destruction derby I'm sure many questions will be asked as to why someone not even old enough to qualify for a driving licence in his home country is allowed to get behind the wheel of a car at the pinnacle of motorsport.

Future Champion? One season (or even one race) wonder? 2015 will be very interesting for Max Verstappen.
 
Sometimes, sons want to 'show' their fathers what's what. As Raspy says it won't be difficult. But in true 'boy racer' style - and that is what he is at the moment - he won't be bob on perfect at every race.
 
Personally I regard Verstappen in the ranks of Alonso, who is an exeptional driver. But with the coolness of a Raikkonen!

Hope Verstappen is on his way to get as many championships as they have gathered both together :D
 
Thought I posted this but obviously mustve forgotten but I was looking few months ago & saw some stats that really showed how young verstappen really is he could be a veteran of 75ish GP's & still be classed as the youngest ever winner of a f1 gp would be crazy considering vettel had only 21gps before he became youngest winner & all records below are just fformalities I believe
11th dec 2018 - to become youngest pole sitter
12th dec 2018 - to become youngest winner
11th feb 2021 - to become youngest world champion
 
Youngest winner is very likely, pole sitter is possible, but world champion might not be in the cards. It depends on a lot things out of drivers' control. Then again, who knows, he might be a world champion in a couple of years or retire one day without winning a GP....
 
So Max had a great race in Singapore after stalling it in the line.

However.

He was allowed free air with some team mate swappery and then flatly refused to switch back at the end.

As he is everyones second favourite driver at the moment and 'star of the future' i'm sure he'll get a lot of praise for this.

I'm not saying its right or wrong but I'll just remind everyone that a certain German once disobeyed a team order in exactly the same way and pretty much recieved death threats.
 
He was allowed free air with some team mate swappery and then flatly refused to switch back at the end.

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Not so. The reason he was asked to let Sainz through was simply because they felt Carlos would be quicker at the end with end with his super-softs, which asVerstappen pointed out (they didn't broadcast that one) he wasn't, and was in fact losing ground. Tost actually applauded Max for correctly judging the situation: F1 news: Toro Rosso F1 boss Franz Tost backs Max Verstappen on team orders

Well that's the official line anyway. ;) Athough on the evidence of the last few laps Max probably had a point.
 
I'm pretty sure Carlos let Max through at one point on the strategy. Certainly thats the impression I got. I'll have to double check myself.

I love the way Franz Tost applaudes him for disobeying a team order like he's not the boss of the team and didn't have final say whether the order is given or not.
 
He's ruthless as well as quick and opportunistic. Add consistent and he's home!

No, disobeying team orders is not the sign of a champion (c.f. Webber, M.), but it does show hunger.

Sainz won't be doing any favours in future lest he be Rosberged.
 
Its actually a bit of a silly move. Both Red Bull teams have a rep for pulling the team orders out when they have two cars running together and the front one is stuck behind someone. If, as Incubus say, it was because they thought Sainz had a better chance to overtake than Max then the likelihood is he'd have let Sainz through and he would also have failed to pass Perez. Then of course Sainz would have been told to let Max back past.

Then he'd have got his 8th place, not pissed off his team mate and no sounded like a stroppy kid on the radio.

I'll be honest I don't mind drivers disobeying team orders as long as they don't expect to benefit from them in return another time. I can think of two occasions Sainz has been compliant for Max. He didn't get praise in the media for it either.
 
It was felt that Sainz had a better chance to have a dive seeing Verstappen spent several laps with no joy at all.

Apparently Max did not get a dressing down afterwards which could get interesting next time the two of them race each other. Sainz on the interview said he's let Verstappen by a few times before so expected the favour to be returned. Now go back to Monaco where Ricciardo and Kyvat were 4th and 5th respectively in the senior Red Bull team. Ricciardo was allowed to have a go at Hamilton to see if he could get a podium for the team on fresh rubber. He failed and was ordered to let Kyvat through to finish 4th.

That says two messages

i) Ricciardo is a team player

ii) The team gave Kyvat confidence for a solid drive and rewarded him rightly so for his efforts (unlike some famous red coloured team to their drivers a few years back)

Surely the team could have explained that Sainz can have a go and if he does not they can swap back

It might have been interesting to see what if these were fighting for the podium and if the result would have been different
 
In a recent interview Sainz Jr said Max had only overtakes more than him, last season (2015).
I'm new here, so i can't verify it, but is that correct?
 
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