Photo: http://www.redbull.com/
Remember Jaime Alguersuari? The Spaniard started his F1 career with Toro Rosso back in 2009, and is currently regarded as the youngest Formula 1 driver ever because he was only 19 years and 125 days old when he made his debut 5 years ago. That record will soon be taken by Max Verstappen, a 16-year-old Dutch racing driver that will drive in 2015 for the Faenza-based Toro Rosso Formula 1 team.
When the 2015 Formula 1 season will start, the young Dutch driver born in 1997 in Belgium will be just 17 years old. The son of Jos Verstappen, a former F1 driver that raced between 1994 and 2003 for Benetton, Simtek, Footwork, Tyrell, Stewart, Arrows and the Minardi team (which has been morphed into Toro Rosso in 2006) and Sophie Kumpen, a former kart driver, Max has racing in its blood. Even his grandfather and uncle had their stints in GT endurance racing, the FIA GT and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so this family is pretty obsessed with everything fast that has one seat, four wheels and rear-wheel drive.
Of course, Max's stints in karting and Formula 3 aren't enough reason to push Jean-Eric Vergne out of the Toro Rosso team. The French driver has 11 points up to this point in the 2014 season and has way more experience than the Dutch rookie. That doesn't really matter in the sport nowadays, especially when your family has connections in the motorsport world and is a little bit better off in terms of finances than most other families, but hey, fans of the sport know how teams these days look for cash cows more than a driver that can compete for championship points.
Maybe that was a little bit harsh, but we all know that a rookie driver spends at least a year or so in the role of team test driver before going full team member. It's inexplicable how Toro Rosso awarded Max his driving seat without no proper high-tier racing action under his belt. In spite of everything, his Formula 3 activities are partially sponsored by the Red Bull Junior Program, a sort of hatchery for future Formula 1 talent. But ultimately, when all is said and done, let's just wait and see how Max and 20-year-old Russian team mate Daniil Kvyat will handle the 2015 Formula 1 season. Our only wish is that both Max and the rookie Russian racing driver will provide fans with a lot of overtaking action and proper racing.
By the way, his Red Bull Junior Team profile tells that Max's favorite genre of music is pop music. Oh my, how drivers have changed since the days of Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and the Formula 1 stars of the '50s and '60s.
Of course, Max's stints in karting and Formula 3 aren't enough reason to push Jean-Eric Vergne out of the Toro Rosso team. The French driver has 11 points up to this point in the 2014 season and has way more experience than the Dutch rookie. That doesn't really matter in the sport nowadays, especially when your family has connections in the motorsport world and is a little bit better off in terms of finances than most other families, but hey, fans of the sport know how teams these days look for cash cows more than a driver that can compete for championship points.
Maybe that was a little bit harsh, but we all know that a rookie driver spends at least a year or so in the role of team test driver before going full team member. It's inexplicable how Toro Rosso awarded Max his driving seat without no proper high-tier racing action under his belt. In spite of everything, his Formula 3 activities are partially sponsored by the Red Bull Junior Program, a sort of hatchery for future Formula 1 talent. But ultimately, when all is said and done, let's just wait and see how Max and 20-year-old Russian team mate Daniil Kvyat will handle the 2015 Formula 1 season. Our only wish is that both Max and the rookie Russian racing driver will provide fans with a lot of overtaking action and proper racing.
By the way, his Red Bull Junior Team profile tells that Max's favorite genre of music is pop music. Oh my, how drivers have changed since the days of Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and the Formula 1 stars of the '50s and '60s.
Google News