Max Verstappen

Max is driving a Red Bull RB7 today at Rockingham.

 

I know you have some sour grapes with your fellow countryman not getting a seat but all fair's fair...Kvyat did an equal or better job than him in GP3 so I don't think it's fair to say that he only got there because he came with a fat wallet. RB is more than rich enough to not care if one is a serious enough talent (i.e. Max) if they don't bring money. Did the 10m help? I don't know. Maybe. But it wasn't the ultimate decider.

That's bull**** Bas, i don't give a crap if Felix is my countryman or not...i don't know him, so to me it´s just the same, but i watched him race and he was far more impressive than Kvyat, of that i have no doubt...I could talk you about parent, who was figthing Vettel when he joined BMW f.1..problem was Parent had no sponsors..look at hos overall at the time...not even one!!
He made a test for renault and he was considred as promissing as Kubica...but he never got the chanve and today he is a Mclaren driver in Gt....Look at Fijins, everyone knows he's good but nobody gives him a break.....I said it before, Kvyat is talented, but his wallet and the fact we have a russian g.p (will we) played a lot in his favour.

 

Fair enough.

Young Kvyat was definitely impressive enough in GP3...But like I said, 10m really isn't going to make a difference to Red Bull so I don't think it was the ultimate deciding factor.

Yes it sucks about Parente and Frijns. F1 is a tough business with very few seats available. Frijns was barely able to get a GP2 seat, only filling in occasionally, despite getting a lot of mouths moving when he first set foot in them.

Red Bull can't stick every kid in F1 just because they sign them. I think most kids that are signed for them but are not in F1 still drive for years for them in all other series. They could also go back to school or get some random office job and wondering what non F1 series they'd be racing in had they just signed with the RB junior team. I think they have little to be sour about IMO. I doubt Red Bull tell them all when they sign that they'll be put in F1 asap.

 

Frijns simply refused to sign with Red Bull.

http://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-news/robin-frijns-i-said-no-to-red-bull-twice/

 

wow...harsh words

 

and look what it got him. Is he even still Caterhams testdriver?

I applaude the guy for showing character against one of the biggest raceteams in the world, but careerwise he couldn't have done any worse for himself. Pity, because he is more then a decent driver. He took the fight to currently revered driver Jules Bianchi and won.

 

Assuming he took STR's offer, gets dropped like Jaime and Seb Buemi..then what? Can he even get a test drive then?

 

If he took their offer it's not unreasonable to expect he would get at least 3 seasons worth of F1. Now he has nothing and a career in F1 is further away now than it was 7 years ago when he was still racing karts.

STR is all about proving yourself, you're either good enough to get a shot at their Red Bull seat (if one is available) or you get picked up by another team. If you can't prove yourself in 3 seasons, maybe you're just not good enough. Endurance racing however, will be an easy option, as will be indycar.

Formula 1 as a career choice, let alone a life long career (that is until your mid 30s, by then you're mostly old and rich enough and can then play in Le Mans or as a TV pundit) is almost unattainable for anyone. It's like you or me saying that my career aspirations is to be the CxO of google or Microsoft. Hell...even a professional racing career is sometimes unheard of, regardless of talent! There's not much money floating about to let someone drive around race tracks on your dime currently.

The only reason a lot of seriously talented guys are now lucky enough to get paid for racing is because of the current Le Mans series regs; LMP2 is cost regulated and GTE/GT3/GT2 is attainable for rich guys who want to race...the Regs tell them that they need a pro driver in their team as well, which allows serious talent to still get paid for their efforts instead of taking a job somewhere and always wondering what could have been.

Frijs has made a bad call out of this...with RB he could've at least gotten another season in FR3.5 or GP2 to get his name out there more. He (or his management) either thought of two things: he won't get an F1 seat because maybe they think he's not talented enough, or he thought he could make it to F1 on talent alone. Either was a horrible call and now he is a race driver with no job. I'm sure he'll be able to land an endurance seat for 2015 but like I said...F1 is further away now than it was when he was karting.

 

Not a great start

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=293uG4Nr3KQ]Max Verstappen Crash Rotterdam 2014 - YouTube[/ame]

 

"Oops"

Cheers,
Ian

 

Undoubtly will be used as cheap cannon fodder

 

I think he got some names confused...

I think Verstappen actually meant to say he drives like loldonado and not fernando.

 

Not really "Max Verstappen", but more like "Les Verstappen".

 

Ouch!

Fer sure, the margin from "hero to zero" in F1 is very small.... The next great thing has flamed out more often than not over the years, and his dad was just another....

Cheers,
Ian

 

This whole maturity discussion reminds me of Jody Schekter's first coupla years in F1. Fittipaldi was livid the guy even got a ride in F1 after taking him out, and then JS crashed half the field at the British GP in the next round. I think he was 22 or 23 years old at the time. Age =/= maturity.

 

Waiting one more year became evident here. Why the rush. Zero reason for it. If he is that good F1 will wait.

 

Agreed.

Having said that, they all make mistakes, regardless of age.... This one was particularly onerous in exactly where and what happened, but it is what it is. Guess we'll see how he gets on.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

Agree completely. The less he is in the public view the better right now I think. Personally I like the view Jacques Villeneuve has about this that was published in terms of age and F1.

 

True to some extent, but flamed or flawed is word far too often and easily used in the world wide interweb......His dad was a pretty reasonable F1 driver, you really seem to have carry the name M.Schumacher, R.Federer, T.Woods or L.Messi not to be called flawed in your sport these days ;-)

As Wikepedia reveals his dad took part in 107 F1 races, as I can remember vividly he was one of the best drivers in the rain at the time and in my eyes one of the most spectacular to watch. Which, to be fair, also let to a number of stupid mistakes. As J.Verstappen now admits, his hot headed temprament sometimes got the most of him. I can also recall that when he drove for Benetton, his teammate, a certain M.Schumacher, for financial reasons got a better, more competitive car than Jos did. Whether thats true or not, I don't know....but it was often said.

Before he got into F1 he was succesfull in karting (two times European champion o.a.) and in F3 (won the Masters and became German F3 champion). After F1 he didn't race much anymore but he did won LeMans in the LMP2 class (and every other race of that season except one).

But back to F1; luck, sponsorship and comming from the right country does help to get a (good) seat in an F1 team. Looking back as an F1 follower in those days, given Jos Verstappens talent and looking at other drivers at the time, I think Jos was a little unlucky in not getting a seat at better teams.

 

Better video footage of the crash:

Max Verstappen Formula 1 crash VKV City Racing 2014 - YouTube

 

Just bloody hilarious....... Feel sorry for him now, I suspect he was trying to text his mates, check Facebook, have a smoke and check his hair in the mirrors and lost control due to all the multitasking, as that's the reason all kids have crashes in their first little car

 

The amount of conclusion that is drawn here from a little run-in with the wall the first time he sits in an F1 car is amazing. Crash is not the word for it. It doesn't mean anything. We will see how he gets on.


Onno

 

+1

It happens to proven drivers as well:

Heidfelt:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqThuwQoHjw]Heidfeld crashes BMW F1 at Munich Demonstration - YouTube[/ame]


Kobayashi:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kHqsIRA_sk[/ame]


I can't find the video now but I'm almost certain Kubica crashed in a similar matter Max did.

Like I said...It's going to be used as cheap cannonfodder by the naysayers who can now yell out an early ''I told you so''.

Wait to judge him after 8 or so F1 races and compare then.

 

I don't even understand why the put such a small space for them to do donuts. Give them space, let the tyres and engines screaaammm....