Max Verstappen, since his initial days of motorsport racing, was visible as one of the best talents coming into the sport. His rise into the F1 escalated quickly, and since then, he hardly ever disappointed and is now a two-time world champion with 35 career wins.
A figure most F1 drivers could sacrifice anything to achieve. Verstappen makes it look too easy. He is currently obliterating every opposition coming his way. So it’s no doubt he must be doing even more dominant during his junior years.
So much so that he was never required to do even F2 before joining the F1 grid, but before that, there was an incident when he was the most disliked person. Though, for him, that’s nothing new.
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Max Verstappen annoyed his competitors at Florida for being too good
Right after progressing from the karts, the Dutch race driver went to Florida for the winter championship set by the Ferrari Drivers academy. At 16, he was by far the youngest driver on the grid but obviously the best.
His opponent back then was, currently, the F1 presenter, Will Buxton, who was an occasional race driver in 2014. He reveals that because the Red Bull star was too good against his older opponents, he upset many guys there.
“It soon became clear that Max could do things that others couldn’t,” says Buxton FORMULE 1 Magazine. “Max upset some guys,” added Buxton and explained that it was due to his speed and offensive style of play.
The series, along with on-track racing, also provided classroom lessons. Thus, drivers’ data were presented after every session, and Buxton revealed that the other drivers couldn’t help but feel envious of how brilliant the Dutchman was.
He’s too good; let’s send him to F1
This was the first time Verstappen was racing outside of a kart. It took him only two races into his Florida tour before he secured his first motorsport victory at Palm Beach.
Next, he made his debut in the European Formula 3. In his rookie season, he registered 10 wins, out of which he recorded six consecutive victories, creating shockwaves in the entire motorsport fraternity.
Though he had eight retirements, one Did Not Start in his name, which forced him to settle with a P3 in the standings. But that was enough for Red Bull boss Helmut Marko to give him a test in Toro Rosso, and soon enough, in 2015, he made his F1 race debut with Toro Rosso.
Seven years later, he has overtaken several of the best drivers to ever race in terms of personal stats. He is still 25. If he wants, he has more than a decade of career left in him.
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