Reflecting on Verstappen’s Milestones on His Birthday
Formula One’s Max Verstappen is celebrating his 27th birthday today. Since joining Formula One, Verstappen has turned into one of the best drivers in racing history. With this, it would be a great opportunity to look at his accomplishments and statistics this season and past seasons. First, we need to introduce him and get to know the impressive driver’s history.
Past Accomplishments
Max Verstappen wears the Netherlands flag for the Oracle Red Bull racing team. He has been with Red Bull since his debut in 2015, starting at Scuderia Toro Rosso RB racing team and then heading to Red Bull in the 2016 season. Already, in Formula One, Verstappen has made a huge impact and most racing fans now know his name. His list of accomplishments in his career is extensive. Some of the most notable have to do with his age. Verstappen was the youngest driver to start in Formula One, at age 17, and then he went on to be the youngest race winner. He continues on and creates a name for himself. Placing first overall in the past three seasons and placing fifth place or higher for eight of his 10 seasons so far. Drivers who have been in the league took years to get this many wins or pole positions. Due to his success and domination on the grid, he has gathered some critics on and off the track.
The Hate Surrounding Him
Verstappen has gained some hate for how he reacts to some issues and questions, regardless of his accomplishments. This has gained him the nickname Mad Max. He has left during interviews, shut down questions and he’s been seen arguing with some drivers in the past. One of which was Esteban Ocon of the Alpine racing team back in 2018, where he ended up pushing him. Though he has his “Mad Max” side to him there are also some heartwarming and funny moments. One recently was during this season. When asked about what could have happened at a certain race, Verstappen replied with, “If my mom had balls, she’d be my dad,” shutting down the speculation very humorously. Of course, any time he brings up his cats it is a heartwarming interaction.
Upon his entertaining and usually happy personality, he is sure to make good friends with fellow drivers on the grid. Some of these are drivers like Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, and Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo seemed to be closest with Verstappen so far in his career, sadly though, he has been axed from Scuderia toro Rosso this past race. Not a very good birthday gift to Max Verstappen, I’m sure. Since his leaving Formula One, Verstappen has commented and spoken on their friendship. It will certainly be sad not being able to see this iconic pair as often, going onwards.
What’s Upcoming
This season is his 10th full season in Formula One and this year has been a bit of a roller coaster for him and his teammate Sergio Perez. The past few races were rough for the Red Bull crew, but in the last race this past weekend, Verstappen had noticeable improvement. He is expected to return to normal pace soon. With his pace coming back, there is bound to be domination in pole positions. Maybe not as many consistent first-place positions as Lando Norris has shown a very promising performance this season. All we can do is send Max birthday wishes and wish him luck going forward.
