2015: The fresh face at Toro Rosso
Season: 19 races, 0 wins, 0 poles, 0 fastest laps, 0 podiums
Drivers championship: 12th place, 49 points
By 2014, a glittering career in karting had given way to a successful transition to single seaters. Verstappen quickly attracted the attention of Dr Helmut Marko, boss of Red Bull's junior driver development programme. After testing a Formula Renault 3.5 car, Max took part in three practice sessions with Toro Rosso, and the following year in Melbourne he duly became the youngest full-time driver in F1 history at the age of 17 years, 166 days alongside fellow rookie Carlos Sainz.
His debut ended in engine failure, but next time out in Malaysia he qualified in seventh and went on to pick up his first championship points. There were more retirements and non-points outings - including an accident with Romain Grosjean in Monaco that saw him branded 'dangerous' by Felipe Massa - but in the second half of the season he was finishing regularly, and on two occasions in Hungary and USA he crossed the line in an impressive fourth place.
In the end-of-season FIA awards he walked away with the trophies for Rookie of the Year, Personality of the Year and Action of the Year. It was without doubt a strong start to his F1 career. But the sport has seen many bright things make an immediate splash only to fade away into obscurity just as quickly. Maybe Max would prove to be just another of those, regardless of the fearsome ambition evident in both father and son?
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