John N
Max Verstappen has emerged as one of the biggest Formula 1 stars of his generation. Verstappen has been improving each year since he made his debut in 2015 in the Australian Grand Prix,
Max Verstappen, an extremely talented driver who races under the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team is the current World Champion.
Here are some interesting facts about Max Verstappen.
- Belgium born but competes as a Dutch
Max Verstappen was born on 30 September 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium, and not in the Netherlands as many believe.
- Max hails from racing family
His father — Jos Verstappen — is a former racing driver who competed in Formula 1, and Le Mans Series. His mother Sophie Kumpen also has a racing background. She made her debut in the Formula A World Championship aged 16 and finished 9th. Notably, Max Verstappen’s mother competed against Christian Horner (the current Red Bull Racing team principal) and even Jenson Button — a former F1 Champion in her karting years.
- His racing career began at an early age.
Verstappen began go-karting at age 4. Verstappen took part in his first Championship in 2005 — the Belgium Championship Mini (VAS) and emerged the winner in all the races. At the Karting level, he got so many awards and wins that by age 15, he made his debut in single-seater race cars. After impressive performances in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2014, Max Verstappen got snatched up by Toro Rosso in 2015
- Max signed for Red Bull in 2014 after testing a Formula Renault 3.5 car. He also received an offer from Mercedes to be part of their junior Driver development program.
- Verstappen made his F1 race debut in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix for the Toro Rosso team.He made his debut aged 17, making him the youngest driver to do so.
- He broke the youngest driver records. These include iconic moments such as being the youngest driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend, the youngest driver to start a race, the youngest driver to score points at age 17, youngest driver to win a race win, achieve a podium finish, and to lead a lap all by 18 years of age.
He also became the youngest driver to score the fastest lap and youngest driver to score a grand slam by 19, beating the likes of Vettel, Hamilton, and Alonso, who previously held some of these records during their time.
