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.
 
i have feel we will see this quite alot over the next 15 years providing he doesnt do a alonso
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& also how can you not love him. he is so entertaining every race
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The worst part is that he seems to consider it just a racing incident. YOU FORCED A DRIVER OFF THE CIRCUIT AND THEN HIT HIM MAX!
 
The more bone-headed moves like that that Max makes, the clearer it should be to the team that, at all costs, they MUST keep DR!!!!
 
We've already had a 'Verstappen rule change' to overtaking. Why not a change to the regs too? I propose the 'Verstappen regs change' to make tyre walls strong enough to withstand a minor clip from a front wing.

Ok I'm joking but not entirely. The move he made on Hammy would not have resulted in a puncture, a reprimand or anything else if the wings were a bit narrower, and it's the sort of thing Schumacher and others used to do day in day out. Get inside, hang 'em out to dry a bit and win the corner. Bone-headed move? I'm not so sure. Certainly he needs to watch it as the last thing you want is a label as dangerous or too aggressive, and he's still flirting with danger there, but it was a racing incident, one he should learn from, end of story.
 
I agree vintly and wouldn't have battered an eyelid if this hadn't happened so early in the Grand Prix and against one of the front runners. For us entertainment wise it's great to see him chucking it at every gap he could find but tactically the risk of a do or die move like that on Hamilton so early on doesn't make sense. Go for it by all means but make sure you both have space. Verstappen had many laps left to work his way past Lewis and various strategy tactics to try. He might have even benefitted from following the Merc along and picking off Hamiltons victims as they come through the field and then undercut the bugger.

The racing talent with Verstappen is not in doubt. Its the race craft I think he needs to get a handle on.
 
Racecraft (or lack of) is something we used to speak frequently about with Hamilton and Vettel. I guess it's a sign of great potential.

Yes I know I use to say the same about Perez....
 
We did Hamberg but I'm pretty sure they were more advanced than Max was where this was concerned by the start of their 4th season.

I'm sure there will be flurry of posts coming now giving me examples of where that was not the case! ;)
 
As i said on chat max is a undoubted talent & future world champion. His aggression is brilliant when it works its brilliant to watch but he was hit & miss like his teammate Riccardio who had as equally agressive moves but like Daniel he has to learn how to channel it at right moments

But his impatience cost him in all 3 races. Spun in Austraila trying to overtake magnussen in frustration. He could been on podium in Bahrain, but got overtake done then squeezed hamilton & won today in china. That with rudimentary maths thats 52pts 2pts of championship lead. Instead hes on 18pts 36pts of championship lead
 
Max Verstappen should have won the race today. I thought it couldn't get any worse after Melbourne and the two incidents in Bahrain. This is going to be a long season, if he continues like this.
Ricciardo has shown him how it's done. When he watches the race, he can review his moves.
 
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