Verstappen-Sainz 9 years later
While waiting for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, the driver who has been most talked about in recent days has undoubtedly been Oliver Bearman. Engaged in the Formula 2 championship, the 18-year-old from the Maranello Driver Academy was recalled by Ferrari during the weekend of the Saudi Arabian GP to replace Carlos Sainz, who underwent surgery to remove appendicitis. In his first overall experience as an official driver, the Englishman came close to reaching Q3 by just 36 thousandths, then finishing the race in seventh position to the applause of the public. Melbourne getting ever closer, Sainz and the topic of rookies: all elements that can be linked to Sunday 15 March 2015Exactly 9 years agowhen the Red Bull fielded a whole new line-up made up of young drivers who would later make their careers great.
The new faces of Faenza
The current RB, even before the pre-season tests in preparation for the inaugural round of the World Cup Melbourne, in fact presented a curious couple of pilots, made up of children of art. On the one hand he made his debut in F1 Carlos Sainz, son of the two-time world rally champion. Winner of the Formula V8 3.5, the Spaniard was promoted to the top series by Red Bull at the age of 20 after some private tests. Even more surprising, however, was the choice of the other Toro Rosso driver, also promoted by Red Bull: Max Verstappen. Son of Jos, the Dutchman was lined up on the grid directly from GP3 alone 17 years of agethus becoming the youngest driver ever to have competed in a Formula 1 GP.
The results
In addition to Sebastian Vettel's first appearance in Ferrari, the public therefore focused on these two drivers, starting with Sainz, who immediately achieved an 8th place in qualifying against Verstappen's 12th. The Spaniard proved competitive throughout the race, even when faced with a problem in the pits which saw him relegated to the ranks ninth positionthus obtaining i first points of his career in his debut match. More unfortunate, however, was Verstappen's debut, forced to withdrawal due to a technical problem. However, in the following race, in Malaysia, he would set the record as the youngest driver ever to finish in the points.
Career development
The 2015 Australian GP was therefore the first step in two careers destined to explode, one in particular, with the two also protagonists of some friction as teammates. Moved to current season in Renault in 2017, Sainz remained with the French team the following year, and then landed in McLaren. Here he achieved his first podiums, the Spaniard signed for Ferrari in 2021obtaining since then 5 pole positions and two victories. Verstappen's growth was decidedly more sensational: he moved to Red Bull in 2016the Dutch he won immediately on his debut in Spain, becoming the youngest winner ever. From there, with the Anglo-Austrian team, he then collected new records thanks to another 55 successes, 34 pole positions and 100 podiums, but above all three consecutive world titles from 2021 to 2023.
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