Max Verstappen becomes youngest man to drive a Formula One car
Toro Rosso driver, son of veteran racer Jos, puts in encouraging performance in practice session for Japanese GP at Suzuka
Max Verstappen became the youngest driver to take to the wheel of a Formula One car on Friday in the first practice session for the Japanese grand prix here in Suzuka. Just 17 years and three days old, his run for Toro Rosso eclipses Sebastian Vettel, who was the previous youngest driver at 19 years and 53 days when he ran in practice for BMW in Turkey in 2006.
The Dutch driver, who will replace Jean-Éric Vergne at Toro Rosso next year, completed a creditable performance for almost all of the session before he was forced to retire with an engine failure ten minutes from the end. He finished 12th on a leaderboard topped by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, but was crucially only just over four-tenths of a second down on his team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
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