Max Verstappen is a Dutch racing driver, driver of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team, four-time world champion in auto racing in the Formula 1 class.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on September 30, 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium.
He comes from a family closely linked to motorsport: his father, Jos, competed in Formula 1 from 1994 to 2003, and his mother, Sophie Kümpen, was a go-kart in her youth. The driver’s uncle Anthony and grandfather Paul raced in the GT class.
Career
Karting
Verstappen started karting at the age of four and a half.
Already in 2005, he won silver in the Limburgs Kart Championship in the Mini Junior category.
The following year, he moved to the Minimax class and won a series of victories: he became the champion in the Rotax Max Challenge Belgium in 2006, 2007 and 2008, won the Dutch championship Rotax Max and Rotax Max Challenge Belgium National in 2007, as well as the BNL Karting Series in 2008. In particular, he became the winner in the Belgian championship in the Cadet class, and in 2009 – in the KF5 category.
In 2010, he moved to the KF3 class, where he won titles in the Bridgestone Cup Europe, WSK Nations Cup and WSK World Series tournaments, as well as won the WSK Euro Series twice in a row, in 2010 and 2011.
Subsequently, he began to compete in the KF2 class, where in 2012 he became the winner of the WSK Master Series and 17 Winter Cup, and in 2013 he won the South Garda Winter Cup.
2013 was the last year for the racer in his karting career.
Formula 3
In 2014, Verstappen made his debut in the European Formula 3 Championship as part of the Van Amersfoort Racing team.
During the season, he held 33 races, in which he finished on the podium 16 times. He won the third race of the first stage at the Gockenheimring, in all races at Spa-Francorchamps and the Norrisring, in the first race at the Nürnburgring, in the third at Imola, as well as in the first race of the final stage at the Gockenheimring.
At the end of the season, he scored 411 points and took third place in the overall standings.
In 2014, Verstappen took part in two prestigious Formula 3 tournaments traditionally held every year: the Macau Grand Prix and the Formula 3 Masters.
At the stage in Macau, driving for the Van Amersfoort Racing team, Verstappen set the best lap of the race and finished seventh.
In the Formula 3 Masters, where he represented the Motopark team, Verstappen took pole position, set the fastest lap and won confidently.
Formula 1
In July 2014, it was reported that several Formula 1 teams, including Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, were interested in Verstappen. Already in August of the same year, his joining Red Bull was officially confirmed at the invitation of Helmut Marko.
After that, Verstappen got the role of test driver in the Toro Rosso team. A few years later, in July 2018, Lauda admitted that Mercedes was also negotiating with the young driver, but Red Bull reacted faster and signed a contract with him earlier.
Verstappen took part in the Formula 1 weekend for the first time during practice before the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver ever to enter the track as part of the championship stage.
In August of the same year, the Toro Rosso team announced the signing of a contract with him, according to which he was to become the main driver for the 2015 season.
Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut at the age of 17, setting a record as the youngest driver in the history of the championship. During the season, he retired four times, but in 15 other races he finished in the scoring zone nine times. At the end of the year, he scored 49 points and took 12th place in the overall standings.
In 2016, he started the season as part of the Scuderia Toro Rosso team and played the first four stages for it. Starting from the fifth stage, Verstappen moved to the Red Bull Racing team, where he replaced Danil Kvyat.
Already on May 15, at the age of 18 years and 227 days, he won the Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver in history to win a stage of the championship. At the end of the season, he scored 204 points and took fifth place in the individual standings.
In the 2017 season, Verstappen finished on the podium four times, of which he won two races. He finished the championship in sixth position in the overall standings.
The following year, he was in the top three 11 times, again winning two victories. At the end of that season, he took fourth place.
In the first eight races of the 2019 season, he finished third twice. Then he won stages in Austria and Germany, and in Hungary until the last laps he fought for first place, losing to Lewis Hamilton only at the end of the race.
After a series of successes, there was a slight decline: during the next six stages, he managed to get on the podium only once, and he did not finish two more races due to the stairs from the distance.
At the end of the season, Verstappen won one victory in the final three stages and climbed the podium twice more. He finished the championship in third position. At the end of the season, he scored 278 points, second only to Mercedes drivers.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021
Verstappen won his first championship title in a fight at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Before the start of the final race of the season, he and Lewis Hamilton had the same number of points, which made the race decisive for both. During a tense match, Verstappen managed to pass the Mercedes driver on the last lap, thereby depriving Hamilton of the opportunity to win the eighth title and becoming world champion himself for the first time in his career.
