Verstappen, immediately among the sharks
If there was a Formula 1 University, Suzuka it would be in the small circle of the toughest exams, perhaps to be tried on the second appeal to pass with a high grade. The iconic snake is a feature that exalts real drivers and those who have speed in their blood, or at least enough experience not to hit the wall. It is no coincidence that none of the youngsters made their Formula 1 debut on this track in the various free practices dedicated to them in recent seasons: the last was Naoki Yamamoto in 2019 with Toro Rosso, but the choice was also made to grant laps to the Japanese in front of the home crowd.
Max's first free practice sessions were much more convincing Verstappen in 2014, again with the Faenza team. In that case, Suzuka was a very important test for the Dutchman, not only the first in a Formula 1 race weekend but also an appetizer of what would await him in the following season (he had in fact already been made official as the starting driver). The then team principal Franz Tost recalled how some drivers rolled their eyes at the choice to launch that 17-year-old boy (who had just turned 17) onto such a circuit.
Tost's words
“We said to ourselves that he should test at Suzuka. Then his colleagues came to tell us that we were completely crazy, because it was one of the most difficult slopes. He got on the track and did his job without any problems. Then that year he also tested in Sao Paulo, where he had oversteer but got the car back without problems. He wasn't surprised by the speed, he had everything under control“, these are the words of the Austrian on the podcast Beyond the Grid.
“This incredible natural speed was also seen in F3: a race at the Norisring in the rain comes to mind. Yet I thought it was dry for Max, because he was two seconds faster than the others. He reminded me of Michael Schumacher when he won a Formula Ford race at the Salzburgring. There were similar conditions and every lap he was two or three seconds faster than the others, so I wanted to see what that driver could do in a Formula 1 car.“, he concluded. “He immediately adapted to everything: others need 20 or 100 laps, he doesn't, and that's his great advantage“.
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