But Red Bull wanted to get Kvyat out of the spotlight - and, more importantly, Verstappen into it. Teams rarely change drivers mid-season, let alone so early. In that time, Verstappen became F1’s youngest point scorer in only his second race, and recorded a best finish of fourth in Hungary and the United States - a big result for one of the smallest teams on the grid.įour races into his second F1 season, Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull’s senior team, replacing the struggling Daniil Kvyat. Tost only got to work with Verstappen for around 18 months. “How he drove, how he overtook, and how he had everything under control, was just fantastic.” “Some of the kart races, mamma mia,” Tost said. Tost saw signs of Verstappen’s natural talent in go-karting, when Red Bull was tracking his progress. The only other driver Tost puts in the same conversation is Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull’s first junior star, who won four world championships between 20. “Max Verstappen is one of the highest skilled drivers I’ve ever worked with,” said Franz Tost, who was the driver’s first F1 team boss at Toro Rosso, now known as AlphaTauri. But Verstappen quickly displayed a level of car control and composure that belied his youth and proved he belonged on the grid. He didn’t even have a regular drivers’ license.Ĭoncerns across F1 about Verstappen’s readiness pushed the sport’s governing body, the FIA, to introduce a minimum age limit of 18 the following year. At 17, he was the youngest driver in the history of the sport. Red Bull was so impressed by what it saw from Verstappen that it fast-tracked him to F1 for the following year. He was a star of the European go-karting scene before moving into cars for 2014, racing in Formula 3. Verstappen has always stood out as a gifted driver. To understand what makes Verstappen just so fast requires looking beyond the numbers. Yet the fashion in which Verstappen swept to last year’s championship - winning a record 15 races to teammate Sergio Pérez’s two - and the delivery of performances like the Belgian Grand Prix, where he went from 14th place to first in 12 laps and won the race by 18 seconds, make clear that he’s not just the beneficiary of strong engineers. It’s no secret that the car at a driver’s disposal defines their chance of success.
And at 25 years old, Verstappen may not even be near his peak.
0 kommentar(er)
