Verstappen: “a 15 or 16 year old driver is not ready”

Max Verstappen in one month will become the youngest pilot in the history of the F1. At 17, the pilot Toro Rosso will be at the wheel of the STR10 with which he has already participated in the winter tests in Jerez (Spain) where he set the seventh fastest time and completed 753km.

His tenure received numerous criticisms, his detractors believing that Max Verstappen was too young and lacked experience. It is true that if the son of Jos distinguished himself last year in F3 European Championship, he only had one season in car.

The FIA ​​therefore chose to modify the criteria for awarding the super license with a points system forcing the contenders to obtain results and acquire sufficient experience. If Max Verstappen caused these modifications, the Toro Rosso driver is not opposed to them. « A 15 or 16 year old driver is not ready for F1. It must evolve into karting », he told the ANP agency. “So I understand that the FIA ​​wants to prevent teams from signing even younger drivers. But I'm happy to already have a contract. »

Max Verstappen nevertheless clarified that the allocation of the super license had to be followed with a certain flexibility. “We must not deprive ourselves of opportunities for talented drivers to have a seat in F1. If these rules had already been in force in the past, even Kimi Räikkönen could not have started in F1 as he did (arriving from the Formula Renault 2.0 at 20 years)”, underlined the Dutchman. “Some drivers are ready earlier, that’s my case. F1 has been my goal from a very young age. I worked for this for many years in karting alongside my father. »

Max Verstappen will have the opportunity to prove that he deserves his place at Toro Rosso from the Australian Grand Prix on March 15 in Melbourne.