17yo Max Verstappen to drive for Toro Rosso

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
– Ferris Bueller, 17

First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Helmut Marko and Red Bull for all their trust and giving me the chance to make my Formula debut in 2015 with Scuderia Toro Rosso. Ever since I was seven years old, Formula 1 has been my career goal, so this opportunity is truly a dream come true.
– Max Verstappen, 16

Max Verstappen, son of Jos the Boss, and currently just 16 years of age will replace Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso in 2015. He will be 17 and 167 days old when the Australian Grand Prix is held on 15 March next year, comfortably the eldest boy youngest man to race in Formula 1.

Previously, Jaime Alguersuari held the title of youngest man in F1 when he made his debut at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, aged 19 years and 125 days.

This time last year Verstappen Jr was still racing karts. He graduated to Formula 3 with Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing at the start of this season and scored a podium during his debut race weekend at Silverstone. He’s since added eight victories from his 27 starts to date, included in that haul was a run of six consecutive wins.

All very impressive no doubt, but F1 won’t be an easy step and it will be fascinating to see what the latest Red Bull protege can bring to the sport.

You only have to look at the soon-to-be-discarded Jean-Eric Vergne to see that you don’t get much time to shine.

[Source: Toro Rosso]