Max Verstappen, the 17-year-old prodigy, pulled out of the garage and turned into the pages of Formula One history.
To bright sunshine here in Suzuka, he become the youngest driver to take part in a grand prix weekend.
He
immediately looked at ease in the Toro Rosso on the most demanding of
all F1 tracks, providing evidence that he is a special talent. However,
whether he will live up to his boss Helmut Marko’s lofty claim that his
ability is reminiscent of Ayrton Senna remains to be seen.
All eyes were on the 17-year-old debutant who turned in an assured performance to post the 12th best time
The Toro Rosso pit wall watch on as Verstappen is forced to park his car after an engine failure
He was 12th fastest in his one practice session, only half a second behind his team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
But
after 22 assured laps, he had to pull off the track before the
one-and-a-half hour period was completed, his contribution ending with a
puff of smoke.
Verstappen said over the radio: ‘I have smoke out of the engine – what do I have to do?’ He was told: ‘Stop the car.’
Watching
him in the garage was his father Jos, a veteran of 107 races. ‘The
first lap I was a bit nervous, but now I’m calm,’ said Verstappen
senior.
Verstappen immediately looked at ease in his Toro Rosso after taking to the challenging Suzuka circuit
The assembled photographers take pictures of Verstappen as he steps into the cockpit of his Toro Rosso
‘What he is doing now is more than enough. He has to drive as much as he can. I am very proud.’
Verstappen Jnr batted any questions about his age being a factor moving forward.
'I'm not focused on the age, it doesn't matter to me,' the 17-year-old said.
'I think at the end, age doesn't make any difference - if you are ready for it and you have prepared well, age is just a number.
'Sebastian (Vettel) started when he was 19 and look at him now, some people can make it and some cannot.'
Verstappen,
went on to suggest people could race in the sport as young as 14 - but
is not looking at early comparisons between himself and four-time world
champion Vettel.
'I
focus on what I have to do at the moment,' he said. 'I have to prove
myself in F1 but it is always nice to hear those things.'
Smoke billows from Verstappen's engine only six minutes remaining of the opening practice session
The Dutchman steps out of his Toro Rosso cockpit after parking his car towards the end of the session
DID YOU KNOW?
- Verstappen may have made his F1 debut in Suzuka but he is too young to apply for a road licence in his native Holland
- The Dutchman has now surpassed Jaime Alguersuari's record as the youngest driver in F1 by more than two years
- His father is Jos Verstappen (below) who raced alongside the legendary Michael Schumacher at Benetton in the mid 1990s
- Current drivers Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa all raced against Jos in the early 2000s
His session may have been cut short but the Dutchman was happy with his maiden outing at a bonafide race weekend.
'I
can't complain really, I enjoyed it a lot and that was the main thing
today - just to get experience and make a lot of laps,' he added.
'I
think in general it was more about learning the car, there is quite
some difference compared to the 2012 car so I just build it up
lap-by-lap and by the end you get used to it. It is always good to drive
an F1 car.'
Toro
Rosso team principal Franz Tost has confirmed Verstappen will compete
in free practice at all of the remaining races, with the exception of
the Russian Grand Prix next weekend.
'We
want to run him in Austin as well as in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi - this
is how we want to prepare him for next season,' Tostsaid. 'We all know
that this race track is quite difficult to learn so we gave him the
opportunity to go out. He is doing a good job.
'We
have changed it so he has a little less front downforce and I hope that
he can do as many laps as possible. He has to learn the track so when
he comes next year he can just go out and knows all the tricks you need
to know here.'
The teenager speaks to the press following his Formula One bow ahead of this weekend's race in Japan
Verstappen is mobbed by the world's media after becoming the youngest driver in the history of the sport
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