Belgian youngster a welcome distraction from SA’s F1 dearth
IT SEEMS incredible that in a sport no South African has been able to crack since Jody Scheckter back in 1979, a 17-year-old Belgian anklebiter is currently making his mark on the Formula 1 world stage.
Sadly, the young Max Verstappen did not have a particularly auspicious debut and was forced to retire from the recent Australian Grand Prix on the 34th lap. This was particularly unfortunate as he had just made it into the points scoring zone in ninth place on medium-compound tyres, when he pulled in for his first pit stop.
The Toro Rosso team then switched to the soft compound rubber that they calculated would give him increased grip and allow him to reel in some of the cars ahead of him. He was certainly driving well enough to justify their faith when smoke began to pour into the cockpit and his race came to an abrupt end, 24 laps before the chequered flag came out.
The teenager is still too young to drive on public roads in Belgium (and other countries). And at 17 years and 166 days on March 15, he was almost two years younger than Jaime Alquersuari, the previous holder of the “youngest ever” record. Now Max was actually only 16 when he made his first appearance on an F1 track as a Scuderia Toro Rosso test driver during practice for the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
But while he has proved quite capable, the sport’s controlling body, the FIA, is becoming increasingly concerned about the situation and there is talk of a minimum age limit being introduced for the 2016 season.
However, looking back at the boy’s record, no one can really complain about his parental guidance – or any lack of experience. Max was born into a family of racing drivers. His father Jos Verstappen was signed by several F1 teams over a period of years, first with Benetton in 1994, where he was partnered by Michael Schumacher. His sports car career includes a LMP2 class victory in the 24-Hour Race at Le Mans in 2008.His mother Sophie, was an accomplished kart racer and twice winner of the Belgian kart championship. This was during a period when she competed against future F1 drivers like Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella. So it was understandable that Max’s start in karting began when he was just four years of age. After winning a string of titles as a junior, he progressed to becoming a senior international karter where his run of successes continued. Switching to cars, he was quickly signed by Red Bull in 2014 at the same time as he received an offer from Mercedes to join their driver development programme. However he has now settled in with Red Bull’s Toro Rosso outfit and I am looking forward to monitoring his progress during the rest of the F1 season.