The top 5 moments in Max Verstappen’s career

With a magnificent victory at the Japanese GP, Max Verstappen mathematically secured his second driver’s title in a row in Formula 1. The world champion has been in top motorsport for 7 years.

For number lovers: Max was born on September 30, 1997 in Belgium, he is 1.81 m tall and weighs 72 kg. To date he has started 159 GPs, 32 wins, 18 pole positions, 21 fastest laps and 74 podiums.

These are the top 5 F1 career milestones of the 25-year-old Dutchman.

2015: The Debut

Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut with Scuderia Toro Rosso-Renault aged just 17 years and 165 days, becoming the youngest driver to enter the magical world of F1. This year he was 12th in the drivers’ standings.

2016: The first victory

In 2016 he switched to Red Bull-Renault during the year and clinched his first Formula 1 win in his first race with the Austrian team, the Spanish GP. This made him the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix at the age of 18 years and 228 days. That year he finished sixth overall, while in 2018 he finished fourth.

2019: First victory for Honda in the hybrid era

In 2019, Red Bull began its partnership with Honda and Verstappen gave the Japanese company its first win of Formula 1’s hybrid era. It was in the ninth race of the season, at the Austrian GP, ​​home of Red Bull. Max won, by overtaking his current rival Charles Leclerc with three laps to go. This year the Dutchman clinched the first pole position of his career in Hungary and in 2020, like the year after, finished third in the drivers’ standings.

2021: F1 World Champion

After an extremely competitive year and many merciless battles with Lewis Hamilton, both drivingly and verbally, in the final race, on the final lap of Abu Dhabi, Max manages to overtake the Brit and ‘steal’ the title from him. Hamilton led clearly throughout the race until a Latifi out in the final laps brought the safety car out. Verstappen took advantage, got fresh tires, came out with a lap to go, passed Lewis, took the win and the title. In a controversial way, of course, as the regulations regarding the exit of the safety car from the track were not fully respected.

2022: Second title in a row

His first title may be controversial for many, but the second one is 100% deserved. Verstappen had a difficult start to the season with reliability issues but Red Bull reacted quickly and gave the Dutchman a top car. With 12 wins from 18 races, Verstappen was the absolute dominant force, mathematically securing the title at Honda’s Suzuka circuit with four grands prix remaining that year.

• Nicky for Max

Many have said a lot about Max Verstappen’s greatness over the years. We stand by the words of the late Niki Lauda, ​​who declared in 2016 after the Dutchman’s first win that Verstappen was “the talent of the century”!