Quote:
Originally Posted by NYG
Quote:
Originally Posted by Artemis
Karting domination:
Throwback to 2006-2007-2008-2009: Verstappen (°1997) competed in karting championships in Belgium and The Netherlands (Belgian mother - Dutch father, so allowed to compete for national karting championship titles in both countries). The kid annihilated the competition by winning 124 out of 130 races. And do know that, except for 2006, he was competing in multiple karting championships at the same time (Belgian Championship, Dutch Championship and Benelux Karting Series). Back then, he won all 9 championships he competed in.
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Max probably has THE MOST DOMINANT karting legacy of all time.
The only people that pretended like Max wasn't going to dominate F1 were terribly biased. |
BBC documentary of 2015 (± 11 mins):
One of the best karting circuits worldwide is located in Genk (Belgium), about 15 minutes away from Verstappen's Belgian house where he was raised. Several F1 drivers have raced that circuit during their karting days. Verstappen spent most of his karting training there. Long-time circuit owner Paul Lemmens witnessed the rise of Verstappen from his earliest days in karting until he entered F1. Here is what he said in a 2015 interview:
"Actually he won everything he could win. And even more incredible, during his final year in karting, he won in two categories, which is, as such, an extraordinary feat. After he finished in one category he stepped over into another one and won. Phenomenal. Actually incredible. I don't know the number of laps that Max has driven here, but it must have been thousands. But first and foremost because the kid liked it. And Jos [Verstappen] also got involved. Every free day, every free school day, every vacation: they were here from morning till evening, driving all the time. Once that he had learned the tricks of the trade, he was virtually invincible, except for mechanical failure. But otherwise... And if he encountered mechanical failure he simply drove from the back to the front. We have a lot of known people, like Alonso, Fisichella, of course his father Jos [Verstappen], all who are in Formula 1: [Michael] Schumacher, also [Jérome] d'Ambrosio started here, [Jenson] Button. All those names. I have known them all since they were still very young kids. Performing at that age what Max has done ? Well, I have nowhere seen this nor ever encountered, no. Jos [Verstappen] has driven here and he was also a very gifted pilot. But Jos [Verstappen] will not blame me if I say that I think that Max is better, haha. And if you have a dad with the package of having already karting and Formula 1 experience: that's an incredible asset for Max. If he gets into a good team, then this man will be world champion. That's a certainty."
FIA 2013 championship: Max Verstappen (kart #24) versus Charles Leclerc (kart #34) - 15 year old kids fighting at the Genk circuit for ± 20 mins: