Max Verstappen – Red Bull – Bio, F1 Record, Stats and News

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The lion from the Netherlands is F1’s most recent world champion and his rapid rise to the top has been very impressive. Max was able to deny a red-hot Lewis Hamilton his 8th world championship and help Red Bull break Mercedes’ 8-year hold on the constructor’s championship.

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From retiring from his first race because of mechanical issues to scoring points in his second ever Formula One race, the fresh-faced rookie has truly cemented his place as one of the greats at the young age of 25 after winning two championships in a row in the last two F1 seasons.

The Exciting F1 Chapters for Super Max So Far

Max burst onto the scene as someone who was tipped for great success in the sport. He was the youngest driver to ever start an F1 World Championship race when he lined up with Carlos Sainz for the Toro Rosso outfit in the 2015 season’s opening Australian Grand Prix. He had a great rookie season and finished 12^th in the driver’s standings.

His breakthrough year was 2016, when he switched seats with Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat mid-season. Max went on to impress the paddock and silence his doubters by finishing fifth in the standings that season and winning his maiden race for Red Bull Racing. Max was still an unpolished diamond, and the next two seasons saw him rack up podium finishes and win a few races, but it was clear that he needed more time at the top. He was involved in too many incidents throughout those two years for him to be a world champion yet.

For the 2019 season, he was paired with Pierre Gasly for the first half. Max proceeded to absolutely crush Pierre in that time, and the Red Bull hierarchy decided that Alex Albon from the sister team would be a more competent teammate. Alex Albon fared a bit better but was still miles off the Dutchman, who finished 3^rd in the driver’s championship. In the 2020 season, he further pulled away from Alex and once again matched his career-best finish of third, like last season.

Sergio Perez was drafted in to help Max fight for the world championship in 2021. The Mexican proved to be an asset as he helped Max throughout the season and got him on his way win his first world championship. This came after a nail-biting fight with Lewis Hamilton all the way to the season finale at Abu Dhabi, in which it took more than ice running through Verstappen’s veins to pull off a final lap overtake on a seven-time world champion.

The 2022 season was no different either for the newly crowned champion; after successfully fending off an early-season onslaught from Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, he went on to become a double world champion. It was a season of Max’s dominance in which he won fifteen of the twenty-two races. That season, he could seemingly start from anywhere on the grid and finish on the top step of the podium, as was the case in the Belgian Grand Prix where he had to start P14 because of penalties and still found a way to the podium.

The Youngest Winner of a Formula One Race

Max Verstappen was swapped with Daniil Kvyat for the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Max started the race from P4 but capitalized on the front-running Mercedes pair taking each other out to ensure a maiden win on his debut race for his new team. This race showed that Max could defend when needed and could bring a race-leading car home. The 18-year-old Dutchman was now the youngest F1 race winner of all time.

A Few Incidents That Forged a Double Champion

In the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, Max crashed after clipping the back of Roman Grosjean. Later in the post-race interview, he went on to say that he would not have done things differently and that it was a racing incident.

The 2018 Chinese Grand Prix weekend is truly one to highlight. Max’s star teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, had one of the finest races of his career, passing Valtteri Bottas on lap 45 to take the lead after starting at P6—one place behind Max. The Dutch messiah, on the other hand, had a race to forget. His race could be summed up as a ‘destruction derby,” as he collided with multiple cars and ruined championship protagonist Sebastian Vettel’s race.

Born In a Racing Household, Verstappen Was Destined for a Racing Career

Max was born into a racing household. His father has been a driver for a multitude of teams in Formula One, and his mother has competed in karts. He has five half-siblings from his father’s side and a sister from his father’s first marriage.

Even though Max was born in Belgium and has a Belgian passport, he chose to race under the Dutch flag because “he feels more Dutch” after having resided in the Belgian town of Maaseik on the Dutch border.

In a Long-Term Relationship with a Daughter of the F1 Legend

Max has reportedly been dating Kelly Piquet since 2020 before confirming their relationship status via Instagram in 2021. Kelly Piquet is the daughter of 3-time world champion Nelson Piquet, and her brother Nelson Piquet Jr. has also competed in F1.

Kelly Piquet has a daughter with Max’s former Toro Rosso teammate Daniil Kvyat from when the pair were dating in 2019, but Verstappen and Kelly seem very happy right now in their relationship as they left the past behind.

Max’s Net Worth

Max is one of Formula One’s highest-paid drivers with a salary of $55 million and a contract that runs until 2028. At the moment, he has a net worth of about 70 million USD. He is a worldwide icon and has the orange army singing his name, this has led to him signing multiple brand deals and is on his way to becoming one of the sport’s most influential people. He spent a considerable amount of his fortune financing a private jet, and like most drivers, he has a collection of luxury cars.

• Full name: Max Emilian Verstappen
• DOB: 30 September 1997
• Age: 25
• Place of Birth: Hasselt, Belgium
• Nationality: Dutch, Belgian
• Team: Red Bull Racing F1 Team
• Race number: #1

The Extremely Brief Road to Formula One for Verstappen

Max Verstappen cannot be compared to Charles Leclerc or George Russell; he doesn’t even appear in the conversation for the best junior racing career. Why? Max was only in F3 for one season before being picked up by Red Bull and placed in the sister Toro Rosso team. The Red Bull hierarchy had seen what Max was capable of in karting and wasted no time securing the young talent.

Max never raced in the Formula 2 or GP2 series. The FIA had to make up new rules to prevent someone as young and inexperienced as Max from making such a jump to the big leagues ever again. So Max Verstappen is most likely going to be the youngest F1 driver forever.

The 2023 F1 Season for Max – Can We See Verstappen Three-Peat?

Max is well placed to launch another assault on the World Drivers’ Championship this season and is the favourite according to the bookies, with odds on him winning his third consecutive championship are as low as 1/4 (1.25). So, as far as F1 favourites go, none other driver comes close to the reigning champion.

He has the hunger and the fight required to be a triple world champion, not to mention that Red Bull has widened the gap over the other constructors, which was pretty evident in the first race of the season at Bahrein GP. After all, Red Bull claimed a double win in that race, with Verstappen finishing first to kick-start his campaign to another Formula 1 championship.

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