Verstappen eyes final Malaysia GP win for perfect birthday gift

RED Bull team driver Max Verstappen hopes to kill two birds with one stone.

He plans to give the Petronas Malaysia Formula One Grand Prix a fitting farewell – by winning a day after his birthday.

The Belgium-born driver will celebrate his 20th birthday tomorrow and he reckons that his first-ever Malaysia GP win on Sunday will provide the perfect ending to the last race at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC).

Last year, Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen completed a 1-2 finish for the Red Bull in the Malaysia GP.

This time, Verstappen feels that he has as good a chance as anyone else to win the Malaysia GP.

He is sixth in the driver’s championship with 68 points while Ricciardo is fourth with 138 points. There are five more races to go after Sepang.

“I crashed in the Singapore GP two weeks ago, so I’m hoping we’d avoid a similar situation here in Sepang. We had a good outing in Sepang last year and we’re familiar with the conditions here. It’s tough and the weather will be telling factor. But it’s also a track that we enjoy racing on. Hopefully we will get another good result,” he said, adding that his best memory of Sepang “is last year’s race”.

“Well, I haven’t done that many races here but I always enjoy coming here. It’s a good track. I think last year it was good to be second. I would have liked to win, of course, but still you know for the team it was a great day. That’s my fondest memory. Hopefully, this weekend will be better.”

It was in August 2014 that Verstappen joined the Red Bull Junior Team after testing a Formula Renault 3.5 car. He also considered an offer from Mercedes to join their driver development programme. Six days later, he was confirmed as one of Toro Rosso’s drivers for the 2015 season with Carlos Sainz Jr as his teammate.

But it was only last year, when he joined Red Bull, that he clinched his first F1 victory at the Spanish GP. By doing so, he replaced Sebastian Vettel as the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One Grand Prix at the age of 18 years and 228 days.

Verstappen’s entry into the world of Formula 1 is not by chance. His father, Jos, was an established F1 driver back in the 1990s.

Jos drove for the Arrows team from 2000-2002 and also raced at Sepang. He joined Minardi in 2004 before retiring.