Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen

Verstappen in 2014
Born	Max Emilian Verstappen (1997-09-30) 30 September 1997 Hasselt, Belgium
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Dutch
Team	Toro Rosso-Renault[1]
Car number	33
Races	4 (4 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	6
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2015 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	2015 Bahrain Grand Prix

Max Emilian Verstappen (born 30 September 1997)^[2] is a Belgian-Dutch racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One with the Scuderia Toro Rosso racing team. Verstappen is the youngest World Championship Grand Prix driver in the history of the sport, having made his début, aged 7008550821600000000♠17 years, 166 days, at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. He is the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen.

Family

Verstappen's family has a long association with motor sports. His father, Jos Verstappen, is a former Formula One driver, while his mother Sophie Kumpen was a successful kart driver. She won two Belgian championships and in 1995 the prestigious Trofeo Margutti in Lonato, Italy, competing against drivers such as Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella. His grandfather, Robert Kumpen, competed in endurance karting at international level. Robert's brother Paul Kumpen, the godfather of Sophie, is a former rallycross and GT endurance driver and the founder of the Belgian team PK Racing. Paul's son Anthony (Sophie's cousin) is known as the most successful driver at Circuit Zolder. He won the Spa 24 Hours with a Corvette, participated in the Le Mans 24 Hours and became the champion in the 2014 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season. In February 2015 he made his American NASCAR debut in the 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, finishing 14th in New Smyrna.

Although he was born in the Belgium town of Hasselt to a Dutch father and Belgian mother,^[3] lives in Belgium and travels with a Belgian passport, Verstappen decided to compete with a Dutch racing licence as he spent most of his karting time surrounded by Dutch people while growing up in Maaseik, a Belgian town at the Dutch border.^[3]

Career history

Karting

Verstappen began karting at age 4½. He competed in the Mini Junior championship of his home province of Limburg (Belgium).^[4] In 2006, Verstappen graduated to the Rotax Max Minimax class and won the Belgian championship.^[5] In 2007, Verstappen won the Dutch Minimax championship.^[6] Racing in a CRG kart entered by his father, Verstappen won the Dutch and Belgian Minimax championship as well as the Belgian Cadet championship.^[7][8]

In 2009, Verstappen joined Team Pex Racing, a CRG customer team. That year, he won the Flemish Minimax championship and the Belgian KF5 championship.^[9][10] In 2010, Verstappen stepped up to international karting. He was signed by CRG to race in their factory team at world and European championships. At the KF3 World Cup, Verstappen finished second to the more experienced Alexander Albon.^[11] Verstappen beat Albon at the WSK Euro Series. He also won the WSK World Series, beating Robert Vişoiu.^[12]

In 2011, Verstappen won the WSK Euro Series in a Parilla-powered CRG.^[13] In 2012, Verstappen was picked up by the Intrepid Driver Program to race in the KF2 and KZ2 classes. He won the WSK Master Series in the KF2 class, beating CRG driver Felice Tiene.^[14] Verstappen won the South Garda Winter Cup in the KF2 class, beating Dennis Olsen and Antonio Fuoco.^[15][16]

At the end of 2012, it was announced Verstappen would leave Intrepid. After a short stint with CRG-built Zanardi karts, Verstappen returned to the factory CRG team.^[17] He competed at the SKUSA SuperNationals in the KZ2 class in a CRG, finishing 21st. In 2013, Verstappen won the European KF and KZ championships. At the age of 15, Verstappen won the 2013 World KZ championship at Varennes-sur-Allier, France, in KZ1, the highest karting category.

Car racing debut

Verstappen first experience racing a car was at the Pembrey Circuit on October 11, 2013. He drove 160 laps in a Barazi-Epsilon FR2.0-10 Formula Renault car on the first day. The car was provided by Dutch team Manor MP Motorsport.^[18] In December 2013, Verstappen tested a Dallara F311 Formula 3 car run by Motopark Academy. Another Formula Renault test came in December at Circuito de Jerez. Driving for Josef Kaufmann Racing, Verstappen went faster than Formula Renault regulars like Steijn Schothorst and Matt Parry.^[19] At the Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia, Verstappen set a faster time than more experienced drivers including Tatiana Calderon and Eddie Cheever III.^[20]

On January 16, 2014, it was announced Verstappen would make his racing debut in the Florida Winter Series.^[21]

Formula Three

Verstappen, competing in the FIA European Formula Three Championship in 2014.

In 2014, Verstappen drove in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship for Van Amersfoort Racing.^[22] He finished his maiden season in car racing as third behind champion Esteban Ocon and runner-up Tom Blomqvist. Verstappen won ten races, the most of any driver.

Formula One

In August 2014, Verstappen joined the Red Bull Junior Team, having also fielded an offer from Mercedes to join their driver development programme.^[23] Six days later, he was confirmed as one of Scuderia Toro Rosso's drivers for the 2015 season.^[24] It was confirmed that Carlos Sainz Jr. will be Verstappen's teammate, following Daniil Kvyat's promotion to Red Bull Racing. Verstappen chose 33 as his race number.

2014 season

By taking part in the first free practice at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, as part of his preparation for a full-time seat with Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2015, Verstappen became the youngest driver to participate at a Grand Prix weekend.^[25]

2015 season

Verstappen driving for Toro Rosso at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

In January 2015, the FIA launched a new superlicence system for Formula One, that raised the age limit to 18 years old from the 2016 season onwards.^[26] By joining the sport a year prior to this licence restriction, in his Grand Prix début as a full-time driver at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix – and at the age of 7008550821600000000♠17 years, 166 days – Verstappen became the youngest driver to start a World Championship race, breaking Jaime Alguersuari's existing record by almost two years.^[1] In this first race, Verstappen ran inside the points-scoring positions until forced to retire due to an engine failure,^[27] which prevented him from breaking the record of youngest driver to score World Championship points as well. However, Verstappen did achieve this feat at the subsequent race in Malaysia, where he qualified sixth and finished the race in seventh place, scoring his first Formula One points aged 7008552031200000000♠17 years, 180 days.^[28]

Racing record

Career summary

* Season in progress.

Complete FIA European Formula 3 Championship results

(key)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap)

* Season in progress.
^† —Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Max Verstappen.

• Max Verstappen official website
• Max Verstappen career summary at DriverDB.com

Scuderia Toro Rosso Founder Dietrich Mateschitz Team Principal Franz Tost Personnel James Key Former personnel Giorgio Ascanelli Gerhard Berger Alex Hitzinger Steve Nielsen 2015 Race drivers 33. Max Verstappen 55. Carlos Sainz Jr. 2015 Test and reserve drivers Sébastien Buemi Former drivers Jaime Alguersuari Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Buemi Daniil Kvyat Vitantonio Liuzzi Daniel Ricciardo Scott Speed Jean-Éric Vergne Sebastian Vettel Senior team Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula One cars STR1 STR2/STR2B STR3 STR4 STR5 STR6 STR7 STR8 STR9 STR10 Related Red Bull Junior Team Red Bull GmbH Renault Sport F1