Max will be 17 at the beginning of the 2015 season. This means that he will be the youngest F1 driver in the history of the sport when making his Formula 1 debut for Toro Rosso, next year.
19.08.2014. Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing) makes another huge step on the motor-racing ladder and will race in Formula 1, next year. The Dutchman who currently holds second position in the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship – his first year in car racing – will be 17 at the beginning of the 2015 season. This means that he will be the youngest F1 driver in the history of the sport when making his Formula 1 debut for Toro Rosso, next year.
“First of all I’d like to thank Red Bull’s motor-racing consultant Dr Helmut Marko and Red Bull for the faith they put in me. Formula 1 has been my goal since I was seven years old and now, this dream is going to come true. I still nearly can’t believe it and will give my very best to also be successful in Formula 1,” beamed Max Verstappen who now is going to first of all intensify his fitness programme. “After all, I will have to deliver for some 90 minutes, in a Formula 1 race – while the racing time in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship amounts to just about 30 minutes.“
Like the majority of today’s racing drivers, Max Verstappen also made his first steps on the motor-racing ladder in karting. 2013 he became Karting World Champion – to switch to car racing and the FIA Formula 3 European Championship only at the beginning of 2014. In the planet’s most competitive young-driver series, the 16-year old Van Amersfoort Racing driver proved to be competitive right from the start, thus impressing not only Red Bull but also several other Formula 1 teams. Thanks to his eight wins – inter alia – Red Bull opted last week for signing the Dutchman born in Belgium for the Red Bull Junior Team. And for Dr Helmut Marko it already was clear, at this point in time, that he would advance his youngest protégée to Formula 1 before long.
“When I witnessed him being more than a second faster than the entire field, on the sixth race weekend at the Norisring, in extremely changeable conditions, it became obvious for me that Max doesn’t need another interim stage on his way to Formula 1,” underlined Dr Marko. “From this weekend I was convinced that he has got what it takes to make it from the FIA Formula 3 European Championship straight to Formula 1. Max is extremely fast and also uses his brain. He displays an amazing maturity for a 16-year old. Furthermore, he also demonstrated his extraordinary talent by advancing from karting straight to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and being able to battle it out for race wins right away.”
Verstappen needed just six races for celebrating his first FIA Formula 3 European Championship win. And in early summer, at Spa-Francorchamps and the Norisring, he celebrated six consecutive wins – a streak of success that proved to be crucial for the young talent’s advancement to Formula 1.
