The Dutchman is the son of former drivers and holds the record of being the youngest to debut in the top motorsport category
Max Verstappen this Sunday, 24th, he won his fourth championship Formula 1. The title came after the Dutch one Red Bull bla bla bla Grand Prix in Las Vegas, in the United States, which wins the World Drivers’ Championship with three stages to spare. This is the fourth consecutive trophy for the 27-year-old competitor, who has accumulated success on the track since his promising start in karting.
Passion for motorsports runs through Verstappen’s veins. Born on 30 September 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium, he is the son of former Dutch F1 driver Jos Verstappen, former teammate of Michael Schumacher at Benetton, and former Belgian karting competitor Sophie-Marie Kumpen, former track partner of world champion Jenson Button.
Verstappen’s success in Belgium led him to compete in other countries. The Dutchman accumulated several trophies in the following years: WSK World Series – KF4 (2010); WSK Euro Series – kf4 (2010 and 2011); WSK Euro Series – KZ (2012); WSK Master Series – KZ2 (2012); and Winter Cup – KF2 (2012).
Verstappen’s transition from karting to F1 was lightning-fast. In 2014, competing for Van Amersfoort Racing, the Dutchman was one of the protagonists of European Formula 3. Once the season had begun, he rejected an offer from Mercedes, at the time with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and signed with Red Bull to be part of the Driver Academy of the Austrian team.
His F1 debut came the following year, in 2015, when Verstappen contested the first free practice session of the Japanese GP for STR. At 17, he became the youngest to drive in F1, surpassing the record of Sebastian Vettel, who first drove in the category aged 19 in 2006.
Verstappen continued with STR until the 2016 Spanish GP, when he switched to Red Bull, taking over from Daniil Kvyat and partnering Daniel Ricciardo. At that point the Dutchman stole the show by winning the race, taking advantage of an initial crash between Hamilton and Rosberg. He continued to attract attention and, in 2018, surprised by finishing the world championship in fourth place. The first pole position only came in 2019, at the Hungarian GP.
F1 titles
Verstappen’s first title came in 2021, in a close contest with Lewis Hamilton. The trophy was only decided in the last stage, at the Abu Dhabi GP, when the Dutchman overtook the seven-time champion on the last lap obtaining an unprecedented result. The decisive manoeuvre, carried out after the entry of the safety car, was contested and the FIA later admitted “a human error”. Race director Michael Masi, under pressure for his position, ended up resigning.
The rival for the title in 2022 was Charles Leclerc. But the Ferrari driver was hampered by engine failures and a series of errors, both individual and by the team at the time. Before the holidays that year, Verstappen already had an 80-point lead over Leclerc. Against this backdrop, the Dutchman secured his second championship early, at the Japanese GP, in a race marred by bad weather. To top it off, RBR was a five-time constructors’ champion.
In 2023, Max Verstappen remains in Formula 1. Sergio Pérez tries to threaten the Dutchman’s hegemony, but without success. Verstappen’s third championship took place with five GPs to spare, in Qatar. The champion broke a mark that had belonged to Nigel Mansell since 1992.
Source: Terra
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