On October 3, 2014, Max Verstappen was 17, he had a super driving license and a Formula 1 car. That day, at the Suzuka International Racing Course, the Dutchman made his debut in the first free practice of the Japanese Grand Prix with the Toro Rosso that Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne would have left him at the end of the season.
“My father has already told me that Suzuka is a very difficult circuit and that is why I am not going with the idea of breaking records but with the intention of experiencing new sensations”he said before doing some just 2 seconds and 696 thousandths slower than Nico Rosbergthe best of the session and second that season, when he was beaten by his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, in a hellish battle that ended with the German’s retirement.
Perhaps Verstappen knew of Suzuka’s difficulties a long time ago. When he was a kid who could barely walk and used a huge pacifier that covered most of his face, he was with his father, then a Honda driver, in the RA099 prototype built in 1999 but never made it to F1. Connected from a young age with motorsport, he is unsurprising what happened next.
On March 15, 2015, with 17 years, 5 months and 15 days Vergne’s replacement broke the mark that Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari had held since 2009 with 19 years, 4 months and 3 days and became the the youngest F1 rookie.
At the next Grand Prix, in Malaysia, He managed to be the youngest to score, finishing seventh with 17 years, 5 months and 27 days. He added back to Austria, Hungary, Singapore, Japan, Russia, the United States, Mexico and Brazil to finish with 49 in 12th place out of 21 drivers.
The following year he was already fifth in the World Championship (204 points) after being promoted to Red Bull mid-season. On May 15, 2016, in a Spanish GP marked by the clash between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg that left both Mercedes out of competition, the Dutchman registered his name as the youngest driver to win an F1 race at the age of 18, 7 months and 15 daysonly 24 races after the debut.
“Do you realize that I ran against your father?”I was joking Kimi Raikkonen, who then accompanied him in his Ferrari and then retired to Abu Dhabi. The podium has been completed Sebastian Vettelwho had won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at the age of 21, 2 months and 11 days, and by that time had overtaken the Spaniard Fernando Alonsowho won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix at the age of 22 years and 26 days.
“Is fantastic. I can’t believe it, it was a super race. I have to thank the team for giving me such a good car and my father, who helped me achieve this from an early age.”Said that young Verstappen, who was then breaking with the hegemony that Mercedes had imposed with Rosberg, winner of the first four races of the season and the last three of the previous one. On October 9, in Japan, he was second, less than five seconds behind champion Rosberg.
Although in 2017, without Rosberg, many speculated that he would also be the youngest champion in historythe fight against Hamilton was given by Vettel with Ferrari, and Max finished sixth, giving himself the pleasure of winning in Malaysia and Mexico, repeating second place in Japan, even if that 8 October behind another Mercedes, that of Hamilton.
A season later, the Dutchman climbed to fourth place in the Drivers’ World Championship conquered by Hamilton and returned to the podium in Japan, but in third place, behind the two Mercedes, the British and Valtteri Bottas. In 2019 he finished third in the championship and added a retirement in Japan, a great prize that has not been contested since then due to the pandemic.
As sweet as the memory is, because there he made his debut in Formula 1 as a test driver, Suzuka remains one of the few circuits where Verstappen has not won.
However, this is not a setback for a rider of his caliber in his best year. In this 2022, it was first imposed in Saudi Arabia; at the first Miami GP; in the streets of Azerbaijan; in Canada, where he took pole; at the Budapest circuit, where he had never won and despite the fact that he started tenth; and in Monza, the birthplace of Ferrari and in which Charles Leclerc started from the enviable first place.
The record is even more impressive when you consider this until 2020 he barely achieved 10 victories in six years in Formula 1 and achieved repeated victories in Mexico (2) and Austria (2). The latter is also his favorite circuit: he is the only driver to have four wins at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, where Alain Prost won three times between 1983 and 1986.
Over the past two years, meanwhile, Verstappen has already amassed 21 hits 31st in 158 Grand Prix disputed.
Source: Clarin
