FORMULA 1’S
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his trio is about to bring
the number of drivers
to have started a world
championship race to 756.
Sounds a lot, but with the
66th title battle about to
kick off – and far more
than 756 Formula 1
aspirants battling in the
hordes of single-seater
‘ladder’ and kart series
around the world every
year – it isn’t such a big
number at all. Very few
people will ever get to do
what Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr and Felipe
Nasr will accomplish in Melbourne next week.
One is the son of an ex-F1 racer, another is a
long-time Red Bull protege with a rallying legend
for a father, and the other is a GP2 stalwart who
used to be Williams’s F1 test driver, so none of
the trio is a fish out of water in a grand prix
T
68 AUTOSPORT.COM MARCH 5 2015
Brazilian Nasr
joins Sauber from
Williams reserve role
paddock. But on the grid, in the cockpit, is
another matter.
Do they appreciate the enormity of what they
are embarking upon, the pressure and the
honour? Or are they too well-schooled in the
‘it’s-just-another-race, just-another-racing car’
mentality of the lifelong competitor? Somewhere
in the middle, reckons Sainz.
“It’s like an Olympic sprinter,” he considers.
“You’ve spent four years preparing everything in
your mind and body, really busting your ass for
it, and then it’s just that 100 metres and that’s it.
It’s pressure but you’ve done everything to be
ready for it. This is that 100 metres for me.”
While Sainz has been a Red Bull junior since his
car career started half a decade ago, and has had
time to reconcile the balance of high pressure and
intense preparation, yo u’d ordinarily think that
wouldn’t be the case for a 17-year-old arriving in
F1 barely a year after his first car race. But if there
was anything ordinary about Verstappen, he
wouldn’t be in the situation he is now.
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68
PREVIEW
Three drivers will join an elite band of racers to make it to the top of motorsport in 2015. MATT BEER
Most of his 17 years have been spent preparing
– in an extraordinarily meticulous fashion
mapped out by his father Jos – for what he’s
about to do. And rather than the result being a
‘racing robot’ devoid of personality beyond
motorsport, Verstappen’s skills have become so
intuitive that he has plenty of mental capacity
spare for the rest of life. Engaging and selfassured rather than arrogant, he has an
exceptional sense of perspective.
“That was already created when I was younger,
by my dad,” he says. “Since I was very young we
were talking about all those things [that set his
preparation apart].
“When we drove back from go-karting it was
not like we shut off from racing. We were always
talking about how to improve, what we learned
that day. I sometimes can’t remember all the
things because it’s so natural. Then my dad says,
‘You remember a few years ago, we were doing
this…’ and then I go, ‘Oh yeah’, but it’s so natural
I don’t even think about it anymore, or think that