Just 18 and Max Emilian Verstappen is already a grown up F1 man

Abu Dhabi - At the traditional season beginning race of the year-long racing calendar, Verstappen, son of former F1 racer Jos Verstappen, became the youngest driver in the history of F1 World Championship Grand Prix.

 When just 17, Belgian-Dutch racing driver Max Emilian Verstappen who races as a Dutch national appeared for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, he made history.
At the traditional season beginning race of the year-long racing calendar, Verstappen, son of former F1 racer Jos Verstappen, became the youngest driver in the history of F1 World Championship Grand Prix.
Imagine, he began the journey as a four and half year old when karting was introduced to him by his parents. Thereafter, the path led him to F3 racing in 2013 and from there it was soon time for the big 'graduation ceremony' when he took part in the 2014 Japanese F1 GP as a development driver for Red Bull.
Now in the drivers standings Verstappe is 11th with 49 points while his team is in seventh on 67 points. His teammate, 21-year-old Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr, son of former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, is 15th on 18 points in the 20-driver table representing 10 teams. "The free practice and subsequent testing went off well and what a way to start a weekend," said Verstappen. "We started to understand the track and the car, as well as working on the balance. Of course, the position where we ended up this morning isn't where we wanted to be, but we are not that worried yet," he added.
"We had a similar situation in Brazil and in the end we were competitive. In the afternoon and late evening sessions yesterday (Saturday) the FP2 was handled better overall by us and we continued our programme, trying to set up the car in a better way and I think we went in the right direction."
He continued: "If we now put everything we've learned in place, we are almost there. I hope for a good rest of the weekend here in Abu Dhabi."
Having such a pair of eager to learn youngsters as the ace pilots is something quite unusual for a race director to handle usually. Normally there is the presence of a more experienced hand behind the control column (steering) in the cockpit as well to blend the team into an experience and youth combo.
Scuderia Toro Rosso's chief race engineer Phil Charles goes about handling his garage men and the machines the teenagers are handling, like he would do for anyone else in the sport.
"I am sad to say that this is another day where I am apologising to Carlos as he had more problems in both the sessions today afternoon and evening (Saturday), when his engine switched off due to an oil pressure drop, which limited his running. In terms of the car performance, we struggled in sector 3."