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Teen Verstappen gets F1 drive

August 19, 2014

Dutch teenager Max Verstappen is to line up on a Formula One grid in March 2015 for Toro Rosso, following in his father Jos' footsteps. When he does so, he will be 17 years old; too young for a full Dutch road license.

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Max Verstappen
Image: imago/HochZwei/Suer

Max Verstappen, who is to celebrate his 17th birthday next month, will replace Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne at the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team for the 2015 season. The Red Bull-owned squad announced its driver switch on Monday, saying Verstappen would partner Russian youngster Daniil Kvyat. Kvyat, himself just 20 years old, has enjoyed an impressive rookie season, showing more promise than his meager six world championship points suggest.

Red Bull secured Verstappen for their junior driver program last week, beating out fellow suitors Mercedes, before announcing the appointment on Monday.

"We consider Max to be one of the most skilled young drivers of the new generation and we believe he has the necessary maturity and mental strength to take on this challenge successfully," team principal Franz Tost said in a statement.

Max Verstappen
Verstappen won one F3 race at the Nürburgring on SaturdayImage: imago/HochZwei/Suer

Verstappen currently races in the Formula 3 European Championship, where he has logged eight race wins this season. These included an incredible pair of "hat-tricks" in June, when he won all three races at Spa Francorchamps, following that up with three more wins at the next venue, the Norisring in Germany.

Too young for the Dutch roads

"Ever since I was seven years old, Formula 1 has been my career goal," Verstappen said. His father Jos "the Boss" Verstappen, teammate to Michael Schumacher in the 1994 season when the German won his first title, took part in more than 100 Grand Prix races with a variety of teams.

Sebastian Vettel Formel 1
Vettel drove for Toro Rosso in his teens, winning his first F1 raceImage: AP

F1's youngest driver to date is Spaniard Jaime Alguesuari, who made his debut for Toro Rosso in 2009 aged 19 years and 125 days. However, Alguesuari's tale is a cautionary one for Verstappen; after two seasons, Toro Rosso decided they had seen enough of the youngster and let him go. Having secured a seat in one of the Virgin team cockpits in the new all-electric-powered "Formula E" single-seater series, the 24-year-old Alguesari now spends his F1 race weekends in a BBC radio commentary box.

Red Bull's four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel and his new Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo are the two examples of youngsters who made the F1 grade after cutting their teeth at Dietrich Mateschitz's "driver development" team. The majority of Toro Rosso's talents have fallen by the wayside.

The 2014 F1 season has witnessed something of a generational shift. New or emerging talents like Ricciardo, Kvyat, Valtteri Bottas at Williams, and Kevin Magnussen of McLaren are mixing up the established order, asking questions of veterans like Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

msh/pfd (AP, Reuters)