NASCAR Champ Once Dissed Max Verstappen for Skirting the Rules After F1 Accomplishment
Formula 1 team, Toro Rosso, signed a young Dutchman named Max Verstappen, on August 19, 2014. Later in 2015, Max Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut which drew a lot of criticism. Many considered the youngest driver in F1 history far too inexperienced to compete in the King’s class. Verstappen actually had no riding privileges when he made his debut at the age of 17. This forced the FIA to act accordingly. However, even before that, the Dutchman had received a sarcastic wish from a NASCAR champion to rise to the highest level of motorsport.
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Verstappen finished third in the 2014 Euro F3 Championship behind Esteban Ocon and Tom Blomqvist, who took first and second place respectively. However, Verstappen managed to win 10 races along the way. While progressing, Toro Rosso picked Verstappen for their squad for the 2015 campaign. Also, as everyone knows, the Dutchman comes from a family of racing drivers. One of them is his relative, Anthony Kumpen. In 2014 and 2016, Kumpen was a regular competitor in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and won the championship twice.
My cousin Max Verstappen will be the youngest @F1 driver ever, congratulations.. so cool to race in F1 and not have a normal driving license
— Anthony Kumpen (@AnthonyKumpen) August 19, 2014
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The effort Jos Verstappen put into raising his son made him a competent racer, but in 2014, when Anthony Kumpen learned that Verstappen had been chosen for Formula 1, Kumpen sarcastically praised him via Twitter, “My cousin Max Verstappen will be the youngest @ F1 driver ever, congratulations.. so cool to be racing in F1 and not having a normal driver’s license.
At 17, Max Verstappen was already a full-time Formula 1 driver. Interestingly, the Dutchman didn’t even have a driver’s license when he started competing in the major leagues.
Max Verstappen recalls his humorous experience getting his driver’s license
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The double champion we all adored when he raced cars on F1 circuits didn’t have a driver’s license. But the story of how the Dutchman got his license is very fascinating. Verstappen admitted, before his test, that he did not like driving road vehicles. He admitted that to prepare him for his driving test, his father had to force him into a car.
In a 2020 interview with G-Star Raw, Max Verstappen said, “I hated the driving stick. I’ll take an automatic any day. My mom told me to get tested and I agreed it was a good idea. I studied from six o’clock in the evening until one o’clock in the morning. At 10am the next morning, I went to the driving school and took the test.
A few months later, Verstappen was due to pass his driving test. He recalled that his examiner was quite serious and was not on his side: “I had to turn left and I turned right, so it was a bit awkward. I did not once give way to pedestrians. They weren’t even waiting. But in the end I made it, so I was happy with that,” Verstappen said.
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Since being exempted from the new regulations, Max Verstappen properly got a super license before making his F1 debut. He raced with Toro Rosso for the first time at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix and won his first race at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Team boss Christian Horner and adviser Marko transferred him to Red Bull in 2016, and the rest is history.