It’s always fascinating to trawl through early footage of world-class athletes. After all, you’re quite literally bearing witness to greatness in the making. And as you’d expect, the following clip featuring 12-year-old Max Verstappen in a junior kart race is no different.
Filmed at the Ostricourt circuit located in France circa 2009, young(er) Max Verstappen starts somewhere towards the back of the grid. After a few laps, however, the Dutch talent begins to showcase the patented Aggresive Overtakes™ which earned him a place amongst motorsport’s elite. Hunting position after position with the relentless determination of a goddamn T-1000, the future Formula 1 champion unsurprisingly ends the race in P1. It’s nothing short of a masterclass in braking and kart control.
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Of course, this isn’t the sole bit of content from Max Verstappen’s karting days. A few years prior, widespread attention was brought to a clip involving the man of the hour and Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc at age 14. Our pint-sized superstars were battling one another for the WSK Euro Series when they experienced an all-too-familiar incident that forced Verstappen off the track. The video linked above documents their respective reactions, and can we just say… lol.
A year after the kart race at Ostricourt, Max Verstappen would step up to the international stage. Signed by CRG, he raced for their factory team at both the World and European championships, notably finishing second at the KF3 World Cup to a far more experienced Alexander Albon. Yes, as in his future Red Bull Racing teammate Alex Albon. This loss was later avenged at the WSK Euro Series and (again) years after the fact in Formula 1 when it became clear who was the bigger swinging dick on the grid.
Fast forward to 2015, at the age of just 17 years and three days, Max Verstappen joined Scuderia Toro Rosso as the youngest Formula 1 driver in history – surpassing the record set by Jaime Alguersuari by almost two whole years.
Check out 12-year-old Max Verstappen dominating in the 2009 Ostricourt kart race above.
