Max Verstappen

Plus, F1 is very much the top in motorsport.

If you reach the top and its spits you out, that's almost "curtain" for you career.
Very few can climb down to a lower series and make their mark there.

Once you are labelled a F1 failure, you are not so attractive for sponsors or GP2, F3 teams anymore. You are lucky if you can get a drive in LMP2 or LMP1. I don't know if you can still consider IRL where many used to end up before.

The "staircase of talents", to paraphrase Jackie Stewart, can burn you out if you climb it too quickly.

 

My point exactly. Why the rush to this point now. He is a child. Its lunacy sanctioned by the father of all people. Ridiculous.

 

I predict Max will do very well in F1 having followed his karting career and first season in single seaters......at the end of the day in Torro Rosso it's sink or swim...and the deep end is where to find that out.

 

It helps to be in the depend with a touch more experience.

 

Kimi went from F Renault to f1 with Sauber......at the end of the day RBR have evaluated MV's potential and have placed him ahead of da costa, Lynn etc...time will tell if they were correct....but for sure, it's good publicity.

 

+1

And with much fewer races than Max will have at the end of this year.

I see no real problem.

 

Kimi's age was?

 

20 or 21. But less experience than Max. Max has done more karting and more car racing before he got offered his seat.

I'm sure Max is as fit as most F1 drivers, and most definitely has a trainer working him to get as fit as possible by March next year. His biggest issue is building his neck muscles.

I'm not sure what his other struggles are going to be...PR? Who cares, they all have an army of publicists anyhow. Learning the buttons will definitely not be it, chances are he'll learn it quicker than most drivers exactly because of his age. If he's mature enough to understand these are not hotwheels he's playing with and that a crash has serious consequences...he'll be just fine. I'm sure he's got a fair understanding of that.

Other issue is that they might have to bring a bottle of non alcoholic champagne to every race in case something crazy happens. Bollocks .

 

The whole problem starts with Red Bull rason for putting him in f.1 (not taking away any credit to Max who is definatly very ggod), the mais reason was publicity!! a 17 year old!!!
This is the most important for Rb, not he rest....They have a stupid way of conducting theyr youngsters program...of course sometimes will work because they don't just pick any tool, they are all talented kids, but they don't give a **** if they destroy most of them in the process!!! I don't blame them for sacking both Buemi and Alguersuari...they were not bad, but none of them was top notch and deserved a red bull drive...but what hapened last year with felix was just stupid...the guy is very talented, they put him in a ****ty team that had at most a couple of weekends without giving him a free troubled car and at the end they came up with Kvyat? Of course the Russian is no slouch but more than talent he had rublos to back up his place....why not give the place to Félix this year and let Kvyat do f.3.5...what would they lose? next year they would take Félix or Vergne and paire one of them with Kvyat...same with Sainz Junior...he has been doing a good job (This Year RB Switched teams in f.35 and the Spaniard is geting a very competitive car, and he is doing the job....they should also give him a try in f.1...then, probably in 2016 would be Max time, by then he would have had 2 more years of experience (in cars and in life) and at 19 still a very young guy.....

 

Max Verstappen, poised to be youngest F1 driver of all time, says 'It?s more dangerous to bike through a big city' - Telegraph

John Watson has it right in terms of concern. My thoughts exactly as well.

Kimi was older much more so and life experience matters.

Silly thought this all is. He needs more time does this young driver.

 

Mercedes was going to give Max a very serious offer, but they couldn't put him in a car yet because they have 2 drivers already. RB played wanted him and the only way to really get him was offer him an F1 seat.

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.

Fact of the matter is, RB have a lot of drivers in their young drivers programme and only have 4 seats open. So far, Vettel and Ricciardo proved good enough to go to their top seats, they can't very well give them to everyone. They allow the world to observe all their drivers in F1, if they don't get picked up by other teams there's probably a reason for it. I don't think they set out to destroy the careers (in any case, a driver can say no to a Red Bull offer, no?), these kids can drive for YEARS on Red Bull's pocket and show them they're worthy for F1 or not. It's a fantastic opportunity for them. Most notably, Robin Frijns has declined racing in their Young Drivers Programme and look at him now, he is a very promising driver with an occasional showing at GP2 instead of a season drive anywhere.

I don't think it should be expected of any RB YDP they will end up in the top Red Bull F1 seat. Applying a tiny bit of logic...that seat is reserved for champions (who don't generally hop from seat to seat on an annual basis) and guys that can push them.

 

A status from Martin Brundle:

https://twitter.com/AlexBrundle/status/502043492034818048

Alex makes a good point.

 

F1 is so much more than a stopwatch. Its a team sport! The driver is important and others rely on his experience and results. Alot of pressure it is.

 

Obviously.

Martin Brundle himself has said with the technical knowledge these young chaps already have...that 18 is perhaps TOO OLD to jump into GP2 cars for some. He hasn't criticized it either...

It's actually some fans that are criticizing, but I have read almost no concerns from respected journos, team members or (especially) the drivers, who of course share the track with him. I have seen the odd congratulatory thing said towards him by such people though.

There have been some people in F1 who really do not belong there and only got there because of the money they brought. THOSE should be criticized rather...not a young guy who seems to get there on merit.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnUEHNqV32A]Helmut Marko on promoting Max Verstappen to F1 - YouTube[/ame]

Helmut explains why he decided to sign Max (35 secs)

 

At the end of the day, it takes 2 to tango. Max's advisors (i.e his dad) agreed to sign him up for this, so the only people taking the risk are the Verstappens. Good luck to them. It will be death or glory here and they have certainly taken the high risk strategy - but who knows how many times F1 will come knocking on anyones door? So many bright young things have failed when pushed too far too soon. It is clear, which ever way you cut it, that he hasn't been nurtured. He has raw talent and nothing more. Good luck to him - nobody wants to see him fail, so let's hope he doesn't!

 

BBC Sport - Max Verstappen: Formula 1 drive for 16-year-old 'a risk' say drivers

Some drivers discuss Max.

Kimi being mentioned a few times. Alonso's statement is pretty damn interesting.

 

6-8 races per FA. Interesting. I still feel he is child and another year in Jr series will no harm at all. IF he is that good F1 will wait. I dont trust Toro or the Red Bull system or Marko. With so much to lose and with talent so obvious a conservative strategy is better.

Lets hope the Red Bull system has some patience and flexibility. What more about to happen is a great talent stuck in a mid field car. If Kyvat beats him soundly then what. Oh wait back to GP2/3. Its where he should be as 17 year old.

 

If Kvyat beats him in the first year I see no issue with that. Certainly for the first part of the season that's expected. If Max matches Kvyat Red Bull might have a very difficult choice to make for 2017 regarding their Red Bull seat. If Vettel is still there (and I expect him to improve to true form next year)...who will they put in the 2nd seat? Ricciardo is absolutely fantastic, but if Max proves good enough in TR as he does in F3, other big teams are going to want to snatch him.

Maybe Vettel will make the choice easy though...

 

+1

I've said before, for reasons unknown Dr Marko seems like something of a slime ball to me. I don't know the guy, so I could be very wrong, it's just my 'gut' feeling. For sure, they seem to pick up & then spit out more than their fair share of guys.

Conversely, if he should dominate him everyone and their dog is going to be after him. Is it a risk? Sure. But if it should work out he'll be seen as the next coming.

Should be interesting to watch it unfold either way.

Cheers,
Ian

 

reports on line now that Verstappen will drive Fridays starting in Austin, then the last two races also.

 

Yes and no...as I said earlier in the thread, guys like Buemi, Vergne and Alguarsuari have all been kept on for quite some time (3 seasons for all of them I believe), which is more than fair IMO. Pick up & spit out I see as given half a season (or even a season) and then told to do one.

For their non F1 drivers but signed guys...sure, they've picked up quite a few people (I'm unsure how many, but names like Sainz and da Costa are there) but have never done any F1 racing and more unlikely to do so every year. However, these guys have been getting all their other drives paid for up til now, no worries about money or being out of a job when one of their sponsors drops out suddenly. F1 only has a limited number of seats and they can't very well give them to all their signed up chaps, and if someone Red Bull feels better comes along and gets the seat, well...that's life and life is tough. I don't think it's written in contracts that as soon as they sign on for the Red Bull YDP they automatically will enroll into F1.

I'm unaware of many drivers they picked up and dropped, the only one I can think of is Dutch lady Beitske Visser who they had for a year (or less than that even) and Sebastian Bourdais, although I'm unsure if the latter was part of the programme (he was more something of an experiment going wrong).

Marko I don't trust much either (he does look a proper villain/cannibal. One eye, sinister looks and he's austrian. 3 for 3)

+1

Jos obviously advises his son as well...Jos entered F1 without much experience and took time to adjust. I'm sure that's been under severe consideration in the entire family.

 

... just as all second-generation drivers are: overrated --

 

Based on what? Or is this more of your trolling? Please go away.