Born to motor racing parents, with father Jos a former F1 driver and Le Mans 24 Hour winner, it is safe to say racing was in Max’s blood from a very young age.
The Dutchman graduated from karts as a national, European and World champion and at 15 he won the 2013 World KZ championship, the highest category in karting, as he rapidly ascended into single-seater cars.
In January 2014 Verstappen entered the Florida winter series before competing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing. He ended the season third in the drivers’ standings with 10 wins to his name, the most of any driver on the grid.
Shortly before his 17th birthday Verstappen was announced as a Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver for the 2015 season, which will make him the youngest person ever to compete in the championship. At the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen will be just 17 years and 166 days old smashing the previous record held by Jamie Alguersuari by almost two years. The Dutch driver had already become the youngest driver ever to participate in a Grand Prix weekend when we drove during free practice one for Toro Rosso at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
On his debut, Verstappen ran in the points-scoring positions until he was forced to retire due to an engine failure. However, at the next race in Malaysia, Verstappen qualified sixth and finished seventh, scoring his first Formula 1 points aged 17 years, 180 days and breaking the record of youngest driver to score World Championship points in the process. Strong performances continued throughout the year, including his best-ever result with a fourth-place finish in Hungary, before equalling the same result at the United States Grand Prix.
Following just four races into the 2016 season, Verstappen was promoted to the Red Bull senior team in place of Daniil Kvyat, who returned to Toro Rosso. Verstappen enjoyed the perfect start to life at Red Bull, becoming the youngest-ever driver to win a Grand Prix at the age of 18 years and 228 days, displacing Vettel in the process. The Dutchman turned in a memorable drive at the Brazilian Grand Prix to claim a stunning third place in treacherous conditions, ultimately ending the year fifth in the standings.
Verstappen continued to impress in 2017, despite a series of reliability problems that saw him retire from six rounds. In a strong end to the season, Verstappen added a further two victories to his CV in Malaysia and Mexico and finished no lower than fifth place in the final six races of the campaign.
2018 saw Verstappen iron out many of the creases and raw edges that had blighted previous seasons, albeit not without a string of errors at the start of the year that saw him get involved in an incident at each of the first six races. A change in approach led to an emotional win at Red Bull's home race in Austria, igniting a superb finish to the year that saw Verstappen score seven podiums in the final nine races, including a dominant win in Mexico. A third victory should have come his way in Brazil, only for a tangle on-track with Esteban Ocon to scupper his hopes.
Verstappen settled well into the role of team leader at Red Bull following Daniel Ricciardo's exit, helping give the new tie-up with Honda a strong start to life through 2019. Verstappen took three wins through the year, most impressive of all coming in Germany, keeping his head as those about him lost theirs. Additional wins in Austria and Brazil helped Verstappen clinch third place in the drivers' championship for the first time, only trailing the two Mercedes drivers. 2019 also saw Verstappen pass the 100-race mark, meaning that despite his relative youth, he is now one of the more experienced heads on the F1 grid.
Expectations were high heading into 2020, and while Red Bull was unable to mount a title push as hoped, Verstappen matured and became his strongest version yet.
Despite having inferior equipment all season, Verstappen was a constant thorn in Mercedes' side. A brilliant and persistent drive at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix saw Verstappen beat both Mercedes drivers to claim the first non-Mercedes win of the year, which he followed up with the first non-Mercedes powered pole position of 2020 in Abu Dhabi, before converting it into a second victory with a peerless, dominant drive.
Ended the season just nine points behind championship runner-up Bottas thanks to a remarkably consistent run that saw him end up on the podium in every race he finished bar Turkey, while he also suffered five retirements. The man most likely to threaten Hamilton's superiority in 2021.
