Photo: AFP.
Between the roar of the engines, the smell of fuel and the adrenaline of speed, typical characteristics of the motor environment, few figures emerged with as much brilliance as Max Verstappenthe Dutch pilot who this Saturday certified his three consecutive Formula 1 championship.
His story is a fascinating mix of innate talent, iron determination and meteoric rise to the elite of world motorsport, which he currently dominates with superb condition, riding the machine of the Red Bull team.
Max Emilian Verstappen was born on September 30, 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium. His father, Jos Verstappen, was also a Formula 1 driver, which means that his passion for racing was incorporated with the bottle.
He was just a child when he was exposed to the premier class circus through his father’s time in teams such as Benetton, Tyrrel, Stewart and Minardi between 1994 and 2003.
Photo: AFP.
The chronicles of his life record that his first driving experience occurred at a tender age (four years old) in karting. With a talent on the surface, Max advanced in that division, both locally and internationally, and then launched himself into single-seater motorsport.
After winning his first championships and attracting the attention of the automotive community, Verstappen made it clear that carrying a surname was not his thing.
In 2014, he joined the Van Amersfoort Racing Formula 3 team at the age of 17, expressing an admirable combination of youth and maturity on the track. He won ten races, one more than that season’s champion, Frenchman Esteban Ocon (9), but finished third in the overall drivers’ classification.
That same year he did not go unnoticed by the Formula 1 teams and signed with Scuderia Toro Rosso, the satellite team of Red Bull Racing. This move made him the youngest driver to debut in Formula 1, a milestone that left all fans waiting for what was to come.
Photo: AFP.
The premiere occurred at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix and from the beginning he showed that he was not just any rookie. His aggressiveness in the corners, his ability to overtake and his determination to compete with the more experienced drivers caught everyone’s attention.
At the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix, when he was still taking his first steps in the dazzling world of F1, Verstappen became the youngest leader in a racebut was unable to secure victory due to mechanical problems.
He only had to wait a few months to have his triumphant baptism. Red Bull Racing, one of the most successful teams in the category, announced that Max would replace Russian Daniil Kvyat starting at the Spanish Grand Prix.
And in that same race, at the Montmeló circuit, Verstappen did the unthinkable: he took first place and became the youngest driver to win a Formula 1 GP at 18 years, 7 months and 15 days. Until then, the credit belonged to the German Sebastian Vettel (21 years, 2 months, 11 days).
Max’s victory in Spain was not a stroke of luck, something verifiable with new conquests in the following campaigns. Due to his aggressive driving style, which did not exempt him from controversies on the track, the Dutchman forged different rivalries such as the one he maintained with the seven-time world champion. Lewis Hamilton in recent years.
“To be able to achieve something like this, I can’t thank you all enough” ????@Max33Verstappen checks in with his @redbullracing family as he becomes a three-time world champion#QatarGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/XAaN2IbiEk
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 7, 2023
The size of his opponents, after all, also speaks of his greatness. The fight between the young Dutchman and the experienced world champion was an attractive fight in F1.
The 2021 season was particularly emotional as Verstappen and Hamilton faced off in a titanic battle for the world championship. Race after race, they traded victories and leads in the standings, reaching the height of the rivalry at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where “Mad Max” was crowned world champion for the first time and ended a four-year hegemony by the British.
The following year, Verstappen defended the crown without complications and in 2023 he directly marched towards the title from the very beginning of the calendar. He won 13 of 16 races held, established a new record for consecutive wins (10) in the category and almost doubled his runner-up (Sergio Pérez) in points in the general classification.
Verstappen’s partial summary in F1 shows 10 seasons, 179 Grand Prix, 48 victories, 98 podiums, 30 pole positions and 28 fastest laps with two teams.
The Spielberg circuit is the one that saw him celebrate the most times with five victories, four for the Austrian GP and one for the Styrian GP.
At 26 years old, Verstappen’s legacy is completely unpredictable. His talent prevents establishing the limits of his sporting potential and with the same speed he prints on the track he asks for his place among the greats who marked an era in Formula 1.
2023-10-08 12:29:00
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