In 2015 a 17-year-old made his Formula One debut for Toro Rosso.
Son of Jos, he ignored what other more experienced drivers had said about his lack of experience and instead proved his undoubted ability and potential for Red Bull Racing’s sister team.
He showed a maturity for his age, he showed raw pace and natural racers instinct pulling off some sensational moves throughout the season.
Verstappen and fellow rookie team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr had the occasional falling out on track, with Toro Rosso at times struggling to sort out their young drivers squabbles.
That continued into 2016 and the opening race in Australia, but whilst the calls on the radio from Verstappen to move Sainz out of the way for him to attack were similar to last season, the rest of his drive was not.
Instead the Dutch racer acted like a typical spoilt teenager who failed to get his own way, he ranted and repeated swore over the team radio and eventually threw himself off the track in an apparent rage and hit his team-mate.
The maturity and natural racers instinct was nowhere to be seen, either during or after the race.
When asked about Toro Rosso team orders during the race he told motorsport.com: ‘To be honest I don’t know and I don’t care,’
Quizzed on the radio communication between him and the team regarding his repeated requests to get Sainz to pull over for him he said: ‘That didn’t happen, of course.
‘Ah, it’s fine. I knew I was much faster. I’m not worried that the pace is not there. We just had a bad pitstop and then when you come out you are behind.’
‘To be honest for me it’s fine. I feel I have everything under control. I don’t feel the pressure of him. I’m focussing ahead, that’s my competition.’
Verstappen ‘doesn’t care’ about team orders
