The first victory in 2016, the pole premiere was a long time coming: Verstappen’s path to becoming three-time world champion

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The Formula 1 adventure begins. Verstappen was 17 years and three days young when he drove his first official Formula 1 laps during the 2014 Japanese GP. During the first training in Suzuka on October 3, he set the twelfth fastest time in the Toro Rosso Renault – regular driver Jean- Éric Vergne sat outside.

In the Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton for Nico Rosberg) double victory in Melbourne, Australia on March 15, 2015, Verstappen contested his first ever of 179 GP appearances (48 wins), as a teenager with 17 years, five months and 15 days of life experience. A record for eternity, because the age limit is now 18 years. From eleventh position, the engine of his Toro Rosso Renault fails after 32 laps.

Start-up problems? Doesn’t know Verstappen. In his second GP he finished in the points for the first time. Naturally, he also sets a new age record here (17 years, five months, 29 days). On March 29, 2015, he finished seventh in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz. In his first Formula 1 season, Verstappen reached the top ten ten times and finished the year in twelfth place in the championship.

In 2016, Verstappen drove the first four World Cup races in a Toro Rosso Ferrari. Then Daniil Kwjat, who has a child with Verstappen’s current partner Kelly Piquet, is demoted from Red Bull Renault to Toro Rosso before the Spanish GP and exceptional Verstappen is promoted instead. On May 15 in Barcelona, ​​the dominant Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Rosberg eclipsed each other on the first lap. On his Red Bull debut, Verstappen immediately took victory ahead of the Ferrari duo Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel, whose record as the youngest GP winner (21 years, two months, eleven days – Italian GP in Monza 2008) is set by Verstappen ( 18 years, seven months, 15 days) is pulverized.

Verstappen won once in 2016 and twice in 2017 and 2018, but that never happened after starting from pole position. Because he won one for the first time (in a Red Bull Honda) in Hungary in 2019. At the Hungaroring in Budapest he had a qualifying lead of 18 thousandths over second-placed Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes. In terms of age (21 years, ten months, three days), this is not a record. Vettel (21 years, two months, ten days – Monza 2008), Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso were faster. At the GP on August 4 in Hungary, Verstappen had to admit defeat to Hamilton.

It is an unprecedented thriller set on December 12, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Verstappen overtakes his rival Hamilton on the last lap – after the controversial decisions of race director Michael Masi, who was fired in 2022 – and takes the World Championship crown for the first time, as the fourth youngest driver (24 years, two months, twelve days ) in history. The record holder is Vettel (2010) with 23 years, four months and eleven days.

As exciting as it was in 2021, it will become clear in 2022. Verstappen won 15 races that season (new record). Curious: During the winner’s interview of the Japanese GP on October 9, he heard about his second world title because Leclerc (second at the finish) dropped to third place because the Ferrari driver received a five-second time penalty and that the FIA ​​​​decides to give full marks for the rain chaos in Suzuka.

After the sprint race on October 7, 2023 in Doha (Qatar), it is clear: Verstappen, who this year erased Vettel’s previous record with ten GP victories in a row, is Formula 1 world champion for the third time in a row. Only four other drivers can boast three titles in a row (Hamilton, Vettel and Juan Manuel Fangio, four in a row each – Michael Schumacher, five in a row). (Yes)

Source : Blick