Teenager Max Verstappen became the youngest Formula One participant yesterday but his record outing went up in smoke as he was forced to halt his misfiring Toro Rosso.
Verstappen managed 21 laps of the Suzuka circuit in free practice one before having to pull over as smoke gushed from his car.
“I have a problem in the engine, it’s not pulling any more,” the Dutchman, who will replace Jean- Eric Vergne next season, radioed to his team as he hit trouble. “I have smoke out of the engine. What should I do?”
It was a rude introduction to Formula One for the Dutch 17-year-old, who is the son of former F1 driver Jos and whose entry in the sport has sparked much debate.
The teen has won eight races in this season’s European Formula 3 Championship.
His best lap of one minute 38.157 seconds was just 0.443sec shy of future Toro Rosso team-mate Daniil Kvyat, himself only 20.
The teenager batted away questions about his age being a factor moving forward, saying: “I’m not focused on the age, it doesn’t matter to me. 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, look at him now, some 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 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.”
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.”
