Ten incredible Max Verstappen stats

It really did happen. Yesterday a teenager entered the Spanish Grand Prix, having raced in F1 on just 23 previous occasions, in a car he hadn’t driven until last Friday, and won.

Sure, luck played its part: forgetting for a moment that the two quickest cars crashed on the opening lap, the Dutchman also found himself on the best strategy on account of being behind his teammate for most of the race. And when the stars did align, it just so happened that he was on a circuit where it is notoriously difficult to overtake.

But the fact remains that the 18-year-old beat two former world champions to the top step of the podium, in a car that has generally been slower so far this season. Completing nearly half of the race on one set of medium compound tyres, Verstappen drove faultlessly to claim the chequered flag without giving Kimi Raikkonen in second so much as a sniff of the race lead.

There simply aren’t enough superlatives to describe his achievement. So instead, here are some bone-fide facts that we still can’t quite believe are true...

Aged 18 years and 228 days, Verstappen is by far the youngest driver to win an F1 race. The previous record was held by Sebastian Vettel (then at Toro Rosso), who won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at the stately age of 21 years and 73 days. Based on Dutch alcohol laws, Verstappen couldn’t have legally drunk the champagne 229 days ago...

Max also claimed the title of ‘youngest ever podium finisher’ at Barcelona, again surpassing the benchmark set by Vettel in 2008.

After the previous slide, this is a given, although this time Sebastian Vettel loses a record set at a different grand prix. The German led the Japanese GP in 2007 aged 20 years and 89 days. Which makes him positively ancient in comparison.

Plenty of teenagers are doing quite well if they haven’t wrapped their mum’s Nissan Micra around a tree in their first year of driving, but Max has gone slightly further than that. He passed his driving test on his 18^th birthday, nearly a full year after his first F1 session, and now he’s a grand prix winner.

Based on that level of progression, he’ll be a three-time world champion by this time next year or something...

In just 24 grands prix, Verstappen Jnr has already become the most successful driver that his country has ever produced. His victory in Barcelona over the weekend made him the first Dutch driver to win an F1 race, beating his dad’s best efforts of two third-place finishes in 1994.

Never before has ‘The Flying Dutchman’ been a more appropriate nickname.

After it was announced that he would drive for Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen took part in the first practice session before the Japanese Grand Prix in 2014... three days after his 17^th birthday. Or, roughly the same time that every other 17-year-old in the developed world was applying for their provisional driving licence.

When he did eventually make his debut in March 2015, naturally he became the youngest driver to start a race aged 17 years and 166 days. Despite retiring, it was enough to take the record from previous holder Jaime Alguersuari, who appeared in the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009 aged 19 years and 125 days.

One race after making his F1 debut with Toro Rosso, Verstappen became the youngest driver to score points by finishing 9^th in the Malaysian Grand Prix, just 17 years and 180 days after being introduced to the world.

Daniil Kvyat held the previous record at 19 years and 324 days, although we’re assuming he’ll have been more gutted watching his old car win a race just days after being booted out of it himself...

This isn’t an achievement as such, but goodness it makes us feel old. Born on 30 September 1997, Verstappen is predated by the World Wide Web, Tamagotchis and the first Toy Story film. Doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?

Today Verstappen drives around in a 900bhp racer, but three years ago he was still plying his trade in karting. In 2013 he became world and European champion in the top tiers at that level, the same year in which he got his first taste of a single-seater in a Formula Renault 2.0 at Pembrey Circuit in Wales.

Lewis Hamilton in contrast began racing single-seaters in 2001, a full six years before his F1 debut.

Another stat to make you feel distinctly un-youthful. Jos Verstappen started 106 grands prix between 1994 and 2003, and at the tail end of his F1 career with Minardi, Verstappen Snr was sharing a grid with Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and F1-turned-WEC driver Mark Webber.

His mum is said to pretty handy behind the wheel as well, and Max’s website claims that she has beaten many an F1 driver around a karting track. What an upbringing!

Verstappen’s introduction to Formula One provoked changes to the regulations this year, which now requires drivers to be at least 18 years old having spent a minimum of two years competing in junior formulas. Additionally they must also have a valid driving licence, show that they understand the International Sporting Code, and have completed 300km in F1 testing. A tall order indeed.