Red Bull backing Verstappen to tear up the F1 record books

Max Verstappen was born to be a racing driver. While many young hopefuls understand their destiny from an early age, their families often need convincing. Not in Max's case. If anything, they knew it before he did.

Most fans will remember his father Jos Verstappen as decent F1 driver in his own right, albeit one who sometimes seemed magnetically drawn to gravel traps. But Max's racing genes run much deeper than a quick dad. His mother, Sophie Kumpen, was a successful kart racer, while his maternal uncle and grandfather both have extensive experience of professional motorsport.

Max grew up at race circuits; he was in the paddock before he could walk, and in a go-kart soon after that. His upbringing has been geared towards preparing for a career in motorsport. The question was where, not if.

That has already been answered. In 2015 he will compete in Formula 1 at the record-breaking age of 17, joining the Red Bull-backed Toro Rosso squad maybe alongside Daniil Kvyat.

The deal has been greeted with scepticism. Max is barely old enough to hold a driving licence; how can he be expected to compete at the pinnacle of motorsport? He faces huge psychological and physical challenges, the kind no normal teenager could contemplate tackling.

But Red Bull do not believe Max is an ordinary teenager. For them, the prodigiously gifted Dutchman is a once-in-a-generation talent who could go on to win multiple world titles.

On the surface, it appears a gamble based on a very small amount of data. Following success in karts, Max Verstappen made his single-seater debut in the Florida Winter Series early this year, winning twice.  He stepped up to the European F3 Championship this season and has eight victories to his name, enough to convince Red Bull – and crucially their motorsport advisor Helmut Marko – of his potential. The Austrian is incredibly confident that he has unearthed a unique talent.

"You must not look at his age," Marko said in a recent interview. "[Max] has been talking with people who are experts when it comes to the development of youngsters and they all say that [in terms of] his mind he is more like 22 than 16.

"We are not playing the lottery – we know what we are doing."

Those are bullish words from a man who does not like to be proven wrong. Red Bull are effectively staking their reputation on Verstappen's success and will have gone much further than simply studying results. They will have thoroughly assessed Max’s telemetry, sat him down with psychologists and physical-conditioning experts, and carried out an exhaustive all-round evaluation before handing him this opportunity.

Because Red Bull have no intention of getting this wrong. They are primarily in Formula 1 for marketing purposes – and failure does not sell. Their driver development programme has become increasingly rigorous in recent years; where once it produced average competitors, it now churns out world champions and grand prix winners. No one knows what to look for better than them.

Yes, Verstappen is inexperienced, but it is worth noting that Kimi Räikkönen had started only 23 single-seater races when he made his Formula 1 debut in 2001. Max will have over 40 under his belt by the time he heads for Australia next March – and in more powerful cars.

His age will inevitably remain a talking point. The man he will usurp as F1's youngest competitor is ex-Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari, whose grand prix career lasted less than three seasons.

But Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso were also teenagers when they made their F1 debuts. Put in Max’s position they would have excelled, because they possess incredible natural talent. Red Bull's bet is that Verstappen does, too.

It is well documented that Vettel has options to leave the team when his contract ends next year, with McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes rumoured to be interested. That means there may be a free seat at Red Bull in 2016, making next season a potential audition between Verstappen and Kvyat. If the company see enough from Max they will not hesitate to promote him to the senior squad at the tender age of 18.

Next March Verstappen will become the youngest driver in the sport's history. After that he will want to steal the mantle of youngest race-winner from Vettel. He has almost four years to do so, and six to break the German's record for youngest world champion. You can bet that he is targeting those accolades – and Red Bull are backing him all the way.

✅ Check out more posts with related topics: