Verstappen's age masks the real story

Max Verstappen's first grand prix victory at the age of 18 years and 227 days, younger even than the next-youngest grand prix starter (Jaime Alguersuari), was an extraordinary feat.

When most think back to what they were doing at 18, they would have been far off having the necessary maturity and experience to hold off Kimi Raikkonen to win a Formula 1 race. And it's that - the mental strength - rather than the speed or the so-called 'natural' talent, which is truly impressive about Verstappen and marks this out as the start of something big.

For now, this win is the apotheosis of the trend towards younger drivers thriving in F1. Remember, the pointless introduction of an 18-year-old age limit to prevent the apparently horrific possibility somebody as 'unworthy' as Verstappen would ever race in F1 at 17 means it's going to be a tough record to beat.

Verstappen will likely claim more youngest-ever records, the majority of which he's grabbing from Sebastian Vettel. There's still the record for youngest pole winner and world champion to take off his forerunner as Red Bull's resident wunderkind after all.

One record he's not going to break (and this declaration could come back to haunt me in 36 years) is the one for oldest winner. For the record, that was 54-year-old Luigi Fagioli's victory, after handing his Alfa Romeo over to team-mate Juan Manuel Fangio, during the 1951 French Grand Prix. A curiosity, given that Fagioli was also classified 11th having taken over Fangio's troubled car!

Verstappen's achievement is not an outlier in terms of the prevailing trend. Grand prix drivers are getting younger, as a look at the average age of debutants since the inauguration of the world championship in 1950 proves.

AVERAGE AGE OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DEBUT
1950s - 34 years, 193 days
1960s - 29 years, 339 days
1970s - 28 years, 331 days
1980s - 26 years, 290 days
1990s - 26 years, 2 days
2000s - 24 years, 87 days
2010 - 23 years, 224 days

The 1950s should be disregarded, simply because the creation of the world championship means drivers like Fagioli and inaugural title winner Nino Farina were of an advanced age when they made their debuts.

But from the 1960s onwards, there's a clear trend. Graham Hill, who made his grand prix debut in 1958, did not even pass his driving test until he was 24. By the time Verstappen begins his 25th year, he should have started over 130 grands prix!

A glance at other key indicators offers indelible proof of this trend towards drivers achieving things at a younger age, even winning the biggest prize of all.

AVERAGE AGE OF WORLD CHAMPION DRIVER
1950s - 35 years, 162 days
1960s - 31 years, 100 days
1970s - 31 years, 21 days
1980s - 30 years, 222 days
1990s - 29 years, 276 days
2000s - 28 years, 196 days
2010s - 28 years, 74 days

Again, the 1950s are unhelpful in this case, but it shows the same trend. As, too, does the age of winners by decade. The overall average age for a driver winning a grand prix (as with all statistics in this article, this ignores the anomalous Indianapolis 500s of 1950-1960), is 31 years and 36 days. The average age of a first-time winner is 29 years and 199 days, and of a last-time winner 33 years and 112 days. Here's how the average has progressed over the decades.

AVERAGE AGE OF GRAND PRIX WINNER
1950s - 35 years, 213 days
1960s - 31 years, 232 days
1970s - 31 years, 2 days
1980s - 31 years, 239 days
1990s - 31 years, 335 days
2000s - 29 years, 187 days
2010 - 28 years, 130 days

This trend is reflected looking at the average age of pole position winners as well. But the statistics also show that it's not just drivers making it to the top younger and succeeding younger. Their careers are also ending sooner too, as we can see by the average age of drivers having their final starts.

AVERAGE AGE OF DRIVER IN LAST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
1950s - 37 years, 61 days
1960s - 33 years, 26 days
1970s - 32 years, 151 days
1980s - 32 years, 12 days
1990s - 31 years, 114 days
2000s - 28 years, 316 days
2010s - 27 years, 251 days

Going back to Verstappen, it is valid to ask whether success early necessarily means ongoing success. After all, some might try (wrongly) to argue he is simply a lucky kid who fluked his way into a race-winning car, ended up on the right strategy and benefited from the more experienced drivers in the two Mercedes wiping each other out.

A look at the youngest drivers to win grands prix suggests Verstappen is, indeed, destined for great things.

YOUNGEST FIRST-TIME WINNERS
Max Verstappen - 18 years, 227 days - 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel - 21 years, 72 days - 2008 Italian Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso - 22 years, 25 days - 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
Bruce McLaren - 22 years, 104 days - 1959 United States Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton - 22 years, 154 days - 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
Kimi Raikkonen - 23 years, 156 days - 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix

Five of the six youngest went on to be world champions while the other, McLaren, took the last of his four victories in 1968 and started one of the greatest teams in grand prix racing. Not a bad record.

It's a more mixed bag for those simply racing in F1 at a young age, as the list of the 10 youngest starters suggests.

YOUNGEST DEBUTANTS
Max Verstappen - 17 years, 166 days
Jaime Alguersuari - 19 years, 125 days
Mike Thackwell - 19 years, 182 days
Ricardo Rodriguez - 19 years, 208 days
Fernando Alonso - 19 years, 218 days
Esteban Tuero - 19 years, 320 days
Chris Amon - 19 years, 324 days
Daniil Kvyat - 19 years, 324 days
Sebastian Vettel - 19 years, 349 days
Jenson Button, 20 years, 53 days

There's three world champions in that list, but there's also some drivers who didn't enjoy so much success. Jaime Alguersuari was spat out by Red Bull after two-and-a-half years with Toro Rosso and was unfortunately forced to retire from motorsport last year.

Mike Thackwell never got the right opportunity and ended up out of the sport. Esteban Tuero retreated to Argentina and has since enjoyed some success in domestic tin-tops. Chris Amon was a superb driver now regarded by many as the greatest never to win a world championship race.

As for Daniil Kvyat, whose seat Verstappen took, it remains to be seen how his career pans out. The trajectory is not positive right now, but he's still in the game and has real ability, so if he can show the fortitude Verstappen has, all is not yet over.

But the statistics only tell part of the story. What matters is not age, but the quality of preparation. Verstappen has been very well coached by father Jos, a driver who also came into F1 amid great expectations but failed to fulfil them.

In 1993, after testing for the Footwork team, Verstappen was hailed as the future on the cover of Autosport.

But at the end of his grand prix career, Jos had just a couple of podiums to his name. While Verstappen was catapulted into a top seat in 1994 alongside Michael Schumacher that he was not ready for, he used the mistakes of his own career to educate and develop Max into the driver he is from the first moment a kart-wheel turned in anger.

And this is what is important. Age is not what matters, it's about preparation. People argue grand prix cars are too easy to drive today, but the reality is that young drivers are far better prepared than they have ever been. Fitness levels are such that they are ready for the step up (ever looked closely at the size of a grand prix driver's neck?), to the point where it almost looks too easy.

So forget Verstappen's age. He is an example of a remarkable individual, who through great training, taking the right approach in karting and keeping a level head (well, usually - he can be excused the odd moment) has come into F1 completely ready for it.

That's why the Spanish GP will go down in history as a very significant one, just as Vettel's win in Italy eight years ago has done.

Too much too young? Not a bit of it. As the saying goes, if you're good enough, you're old enough.