Max Verstappen

Family and private life

Max Emilian Verstappen was born on 30 September 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium. His family has a long association with motor sports. His father, Jos Verstappen, is a Dutch former Formula One driver, whereas his Belgian mother, Sophie Kumpen, competed in karting. His uncle, Anthony Kumpen, competed in endurance racing and is currently a NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver.

Although Verstappen travels with a Belgian passport and resided in Bree, Belgium, he decided to compete with a Dutch racing licence because he "feels more Dutch", spent more time with his father than with his mother owing to his karting activities, and was always surrounded by Dutch people while growing up in Maaseik, a Belgian town at the Dutch border. He competed in Formula One for more than half a season before obtaining a road driver's licence on his 18th birthday. Verstappen has lived in Monaco since October 2015, claiming it was not for tax reasons.

Karting

Verstappen began karting at age  4 ¹⁄₂. He competed in the Mini Junior championship of his home province of Limburg (Belgium). In 2006, Verstappen graduated to the Rotax Max Minimax class and won the Belgian championship. In 2007, Verstappen won the Dutch Minimax championship. Racing in a CRG kart entered by his father, Verstappen won the Dutch and Belgian Minimax championship as well as the Belgian Cadet championship.

In 2009, Verstappen joined Team Pex Racing, a CRG customer team. That year, he won the Flemish Minimax championship and the Belgian KF5 championship.

In 2010, Verstappen stepped up to international karting. He was signed by CRG to race in their factory team at world and European championships. At the KF3 World Cup, Verstappen finished second to the more experienced Alexander Albon but beat him at the WSK Euro Series and also won the WSK World Series, beating Robert Vișoiu.

In 2011, Verstappen won the WSK Euro Series in a Parilla-powered CRG. In 2012, Verstappen was picked for the Intrepid Driver Program to race in the KF2 and KZ2 classes. He won the WSK Master Series in the KF2 class, beating CRG driver Felice Tiene. Verstappen won the South Garda Winter Cup in the KF2 class, beating Dennis Olsen and Antonio Fuoco.

At the end of 2012, it was announced that Verstappen would leave Intrepid. After a short stint with CRG-built Zanardi karts, Verstappen returned to the factory CRG team. He competed at the SKUSA SuperNationals in the KZ2 class in a CRG, finishing 21st. In 2013, Verstappen won the European KF and KZ championships. At the age of 15, Verstappen won the 2013 World KZ championship at Varennes-sur-Allier, France, in KZ1, the highest karting category.

Car racing debut

Verstappen's first experience in a racing car was at the Pembrey Circuit on 11 October 2013. He drove 160 laps in a Barazi-Epsilon FR2.0-10 Formula Renault car. The car was provided by Dutch team Manor MP Motorsport. He tested for several Formula Renault 2.0 teams in 2013. In December 2013, Verstappen tested a Dallara F311 Formula 3 car run by Motopark Academy. Another Formula Renault test came in December at Circuito de Jerez. Driving for Josef Kaufmann Racing, Verstappen went faster than Formula Renault regulars like Steijn Schothorst and Matt Parry. At the Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia, Verstappen set a faster time than more experienced drivers including Tatiana Calderón and Eddie Cheever III.

On 16 January 2014, it was announced Verstappen would make his racing debut in the Florida Winter Series.

Formula Three

In 2014, Verstappen drove in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship for Van Amersfoort Racing. He finished his maiden car racing season third, behind champion Esteban Ocon and runner-up Tom Blomqvist, winning 10 races in the process.

Formula One

In August 2014, Verstappen joined the Red Bull Junior Team after testing a Formula Renault 3.5 car. He also considered an offer from Mercedes to join their driver development programme. Six days later, he was confirmed as one of Scuderia Toro Rosso's drivers for the 2015 season. It was confirmed that Carlos Sainz Jr. would be Verstappen's teammate, following Daniil Kvyat's promotion to Red Bull Racing. Verstappen chose 33 as his race number.

2014 season

By taking part in the first free practice at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Verstappen became the youngest driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend, as part of his preparation for a full-time place with Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2015.

2015 season

In January 2015, the FIA launched a new super licence system for Formula One, raising the age limit to 18 from the 2016 season onwards. Verstappen became the youngest driver to start a World Championship race by joining the sport a year before this licence restriction, in his Grand Prix début as a full-time driver at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at the age of 17 years, 166 days – breaking Jaime Alguersuari's existing record by almost two years. In this first race, Verstappen won points-scoring positions until he was forced to retire due to an engine failure. However, at the subsequent race in Malaysia, Verstappen qualified sixth and finished the race in seventh place, scoring his first Formula One points aged 17 years, 180 days, breaking the record of youngest driver to score World Championship points. After that he then failed to finish with points in China, due to engine failure in the last lap, Bahrain, due to electrical issues, Spain, settling for 11th.

At the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen was involved in a high-speed collision with Romain Grosjean, after clipping the back of the Lotus on the approach to Sainte Devote and flew nose-first into the barriers at high speed. Verstappen was given a five-place grid penalty for causing the accident, and was branded "dangerous" by Williams driver Felipe Massa - although Verstappen hit back at Massa by pointing out he had himself been involved in a similar incident with Sergio Pérez at the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix.

Verstappen continued to regularly finish in the points as well as achieving his best finish of the 2015 season in Hungary by finishing 4th and equalled this result at the United States Grand Prix. At the end of the season, Verstappen received three awards at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony, for Rookie of the Year, Personality of the Year and Action of the Year for his overtake on Felipe Nasr through the outside of the Blanchimont corner at the Belgian Grand Prix.

2016 season

Verstappen began the 2016 season at Toro Rosso, again alongside Sainz. Verstappen qualified fifth for the opening race of the season in Australia, but during the race made several radio calls to his team due to frustration at being behind Sainz on track before clipping his teammate whilst attempting to pass him with three laps to go, and he eventually finished tenth. Verstappen enjoyed a more successful weekend at the following race in Bahrain, finishing sixth to score Toro Rosso's first ever points at the Sakhir circuit.

Following the Russian Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Verstappen would be replacing Daniil Kvyat for the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, with Kvyat returning to Toro Rosso. According to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, "Max has proven to be an outstanding young talent. His performance at Toro Rosso has been impressive so far and we are pleased to give him the opportunity to drive for Red Bull Racing." After qualifying fourth for the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen rose to second behind team mate Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap after Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed out of the race. Verstappen took the race lead as he was placed on a two-stop rather than the same three-stop strategy as Ricciardo, and he held off Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen in the later stages of the race to take his first Formula One victory. By doing so he displaced Sebastian Vettel as the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One Grand Prix at the age of 18 years and 228 days.

In his first eight races with Red Bull he achieved six top-five finishes, including four podiums.

During the Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen collided with Räikkönen at the first corner, pushed Vettel, Räikkönen and Pérez wide at Les Combes, and aggressively blocked Räikkönen on the Kemmel straight. Verstappen was criticised for his driving, with Räikkönen saying that he "was going to cause a huge accident sooner or later"; Verstappen's boss, Horner, said that the driving was "on the edge", and that "Verstappen will learn from Belgium". On 2 September 2016 F1 director Charlie Whiting called in Verstappen for a discussion. Whiting gave Verstappen a gentle warning because of his aggressive driving. However, in October drivers' concerns about Verstappen's defensive tactics led the FIA to disallow moving under braking.

At the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified fourth. In a rain affected race, he barely managed to avoid hitting the guardrail when he spun on the main straight. After an additional tyre change from intermediates back to rain tyres, he ran in 16th place with just 15 laps remaining. Verstappen then made several overtakes in the closing laps to eventually finish on the podium in third place. He received considerable praise for his performance, with his team principal Christian Horner calling it "one of the best drives I've seen in Formula One". However, he came under criticism from Sebastian Vettel, who claimed that Verstappen had pushed him off the track when he gained a position on him at Junção corner late in the race. The race stewards did not share Vettel's view and decided that no reprimand was warranted.

2017 season

In the first twelve races of the 2017 season, Verstappen has claimed a third place in China, a fourth place in Great Britain and four fifth places in Australia, Russia, Monaco and Hungary. However, he had four retirements due to mechanical issues, three of which involved the Renault engine, and was involved in first lap crashes in Spain , Austria and Singapore.

Career summary

* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA European Formula 3 Championship results

(key)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap)

* Season still in progress.
† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.