Red Bull may not be giving up on hot talent Max Verstappen. The talented 16-year-old son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, in the midst of a meteoric switch from karting to junior single seaters, recently visited the paddock on the invitation of several Formula One teams.
Father and son sat down with the boss of Red Bull's prolific driver development programme, Dr Helmut Marko, but reportedly ultimately decided to sign with Mercedes.
Italy's Autosprint said recently that Verstappen jr hopes to make the move to GP2 for 2015, but in the meantime could shortly make his F1 test debut.
However, Italiaracing reports that the story of Verstappen's dramatic arrival on the Formula One radar may have taken a sharp twist at the weekend.
As the Red Bull Ring hosted the latest F3 round, the Verstappens apparently had a "long meeting" with Marko.
Austrian Marko, a high profile member of Red Bull's premier world championship-winning F1 team, then joined the Verstappen camp on the F3 race grid.
Marko has reportedly promised Max, who will be a mere 17 at the time of the 2015 season opener, his F1 race debut in a Toro Rosso next year.
Verstappen would most likely take the seat currently occupied by Jean-Eric Vergne, who has been at Toro Rosso for three years but is being overshadowed in 2014 by the 20-year-old rookie Daniil Kvyat.
It was believed Vergne's seat would be filled for 2015 by another Red Bull-backed hotshoe, Carlos Sainz jr.
As the 'silly season' shapes up, however, there are other possibilities. Perhaps Verstappen and Sainz will be paired at Toro Rosso, while Russian Kvyat moves to Red Bull Racing.
"Daniil has been sensational so far," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is quoted by the Spanish sports daily AS.
Mercedes also wants Verstappen
The other big rival of Red Bull, Mercedes, has better papers for signing the young Verstappen according to our sources from England. The Dutchman would be the first driver in their young driver program and is believed to drive GP2 or World Series 3.5 next year.
Other rumours are saying he would get some outings in a 2012 Formula 1 car from Mercedes already this year, to prepare for a possible official Formula 1 test debut in Abu Dhabi at the end of the season.
Toro Rosso wants to debut 17-year old Max Verstappen
- Published on 04 Aug 2014 12:35
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- By: Danny Sosef
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Test calendar
Circuit de Catalunya - Winter testing
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Jan 26
I. Hadjar
- 1:18.159
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Jan 27
M. Verstappen
- 1:19.578
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Jan 28
A. Antonelli
- 1:17.362
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Jan 29
G. Russell
- 1:16.445
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Jan 30
L. Hamilton
- 1:16.348
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Feb 11
L. Norris
- 1:34.669
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Feb 12
C. Leclerc
- 1:34.273
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Feb 13
A. Antonelli
- 1:33.669
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Feb 18
G. Russell
- 1:33.459
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Feb 19
A. Antonelli
- 1:32.803
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Feb 20
C. Leclerc
- 1:31.992
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Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
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Grand Prix
Circuit
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Spain
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Bahrain
Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
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Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
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Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
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Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
6 - Mar 8
Australia
Albert Park
13 - Mar 15
27 - Mar 29
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
10 - Apr 12
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
1 - May 3
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
22 - May 24
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
5 - Jun 7
Monaco
Monte Carlo
12 - Jun 14
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
26 - Jun 28
Austria
Red Bull Ring
3 - Jul 5
United Kingdom
Silverstone
17 - Jul 19
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
24 - Jul 26
Hungary
Hungaroring
21 - Aug 23
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
4 - Sep 6
Italy
Monza
Driver profile
- Team Red Bull Racing
- Points 3,572
- Podiums 132
- Grand Prix 246
- Country NL
- Date of b. Sep 30 1997 (28)
- Place of b. Hasselt (Belgie), NL
- Weight 70 kg
- Length 1.8 m
- 844,334 comments on Red Bull Racing
983 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Max Verstappen
Team profile
- Team name Mercedes
- Base Brackley, Germany
- Michael Schumacher 3
- Nico Rosberg 4
- Nico Rosberg 6
- Michael Schumacher 7
- Nico Rosberg 8
- Nico Rosberg 8
- Nico Rosberg 9
- Lewis Hamilton 10
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli 12
- Lewis Hamilton 44
- George Russell 63
- Valtteri Bottas 77
- 639,400 comments on Mercedes
- 59 members have this team as their favourite
- Tweets about Mercedes
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