Rallying has found its Max Verstappen

Kalle Rovanpera was looking just slightly ill-at-ease. Not for the first time, his father Harri's mates had got together and were talking about the old times. It was Attilio Bettega this time.

Competing at the Bettega Memorial, the Bologna-based rallysprint that runs annually to remember the Lancia driver killed while competing on the Tour de Corse, this was a particular stretch for Rovanpera: it's 31 years since the tragic crash which claimed the Italian.

Kalle turned 16 in October.

Such is his youth, Rovanpera can have no memory of the last Finnish World Rally champion - Marcus Gronholm in 2002. When was the last time a Finn could ever lay claim to such a nationally depressing detail?

It's less of a stress when you consider Rovanpera's rate of progression. Aged eight, footage of him hammering a Toyota Starlet around a frozen lake went viral.

Soon enough he will be providing Finland with world titles of his own to remember. The first records likely to fall will be those of the youngest driver to win a world championship rally (Jari-Matti Latvala, 22 years and 313 days) and then the youngest driver to take the title (Colin McRae, 27 years, 109 days).

Sound familiar? Thought so.

Comparisons between Rovanpera and Formula 1 whirlwind Max Verstappen are inevitable. Both have talent and speed way beyond their years and both are the sons of relatively successful fathers.

Then-rookie Verstappen's potential was summed up in one corner last season, with that move to pass Felipe Nasr on the outside of Blanchimont at Spa. The Dutchman then delivered the dream debut with Red Bull after being promoted to its senior team in May this year, winning the Spanish Grand Prix and becoming the youngest winner of an F1 race at 18 years, 228 days.

Verstappen had already set an age benchmark in 2014, becoming the youngest driver to take part in a grand prix meeting, driving a Toro Rosso during Friday free practice in Japan. He was 17-and-a-half - two years younger than the previous best.

Rovanpera has kind of matched that by testing Toyota's Yaris WRC. He joined the Toyota Gazoo Racing team at an endurance test in Finland in the summer and drove the car for about 30 miles. He was 15-and-three-quarters.

While Verstappen cut his teeth karting (competing from the age of four onwards), his move to cars didn't come until he was 16, with 2014 his first and only season before getting his F1 drive.

By that age, Kalle had already taken his first title in cars - this year's Latvian Rally Championship in a Skoda Fabia R5.

The problem for Rovanpera is the lack of potential for progression. Race drivers can take to a track, budget permitting and admittedly not in a F1 car, pretty much whenever they feel like it to gain experience and learn lines. Which is what Verstappen did through the winter of 2013, running Formula Renault and F3 machinery.

It's not the same for rally drivers. Testing is nothing like as straightforward, it involves closing roads and all manner of bureaucracy.

It's the same in terms of competition: pan-European circuit racing is available to 16-year-olds, while Rovanpera is facing another year of tearing it up in Latvia and Lithuania.

The real frustration for Kalle will come in 12 months' time, when he's 17 and still not able to compete all around the world. This time next year he's almost certain to have made his WRC debut in Britain - an event which starts 27 days after his 17th birthday - but after that 2018 will be tough.

He needs to be 18 to drive off the start ramp in Monaco. Sweden's a bit of a grey area; you can drive on the road from 16, but you need to be under supervision. Surely his co-driver Risto Pietilainen is good for a bit of supervision? Round three in Mexico's more straightforward: you can drive on the road aged 16 with parental permission. Harri's consent is probably a given.

Probably half of the year is open to interpretation and up for an argument over whether he can start or not.

One thing he won't do is beat Verstappen's record for winning at the highest level of his discipline. Rovanpera won't win Rally GB next year. Will he?

No. Surely not. He won't. Unlike racing, rally drivers can't gather the same experience for the reasons highlighted above. When Rovanepera gets to Myherin and Hafren in Wales, he'll be seeing them for the first time and relying heavily on his father's recollections of the delights mid-Wales holds.

While Verstappen learned his lines, Rovanpera must wait and build his knowledge season on season. This was one of Robert Kubica's primary frustrations when he switched disciplines. Patience is more than a virtue in rallying.

That Rovanpera's ready for the WRC is quite clear. Elfyn Evans saw the Finnish star at close quarters when he beat him in Italy last week and he was impressed. If Verstappen's big moment came at Spa last year, an early equivalent was Bettega for Rovanpera.

Joining Evans in the final of the event, which runs head-to-head in separate lanes on a mixed-surface circuit, Kalle had already seen off Rally Italy winner Thierry Neuville (the Hyundai ace rolled his i20 WRC) on his way to the final.

He faced the Welshman in four races to would conclude the weekend's action. He lost the first, fluffed a hairpin in the second and missed a win by 0.08 seconds. He won the third and lost the last race by 0.05s.

Evans might have struggled to adapt early on, returning to a Ford Fiesta RS WRC for the first time in 2016, having spent the year in an R5 car.

That argument was weakened slightly when a quick glance at Rovanpera's CV revealed the action-packed showpiece of the Bologna Motorshow was actually his first time competing in a World Rally Car.

Seriously. Kalle jumped in the Fiesta on the Friday before the event, did some skids and declared himself ready. And happy.

"I think he was fastest in the first warm-up," smiled Evans, almost questioning the sense in his own statement. "That's probably why I wasn't exactly surprised at the speed he was showing in the final!"

Like the rest of us, Evans was aware of Rovanpera's pedigree. His card had been marked by fellow WRC2 frontrunner Pontus Tidemand after the Skoda factory driver had a narrow escape at Lithuania's Rally Zemaitija in the summer. Driving a Skoda Fabia R5 similar to that of Tidemand, Rovanpera had the edge over his more senior rival right up to the point that a puncture dropped him behind the Swede.

"Pontus had mentioned him to me..." said Evans with a wry smile.

"He's clearly very talented and there's no doubt he's ready for the WRC. The problem he faces now is: where can he drive? He's too young to compete in most countries, and the real challenge he has is getting experience and getting outside of the places he knows best like Finland and Latvia."

There was a moment's pause as we both considered the phenomenon that is Kalle Rovanpera.

"I can't get over how young he looks," said Evans. "People say I looked young when I started, but he's taken that to another level."

It's true. Rovanpera Jr still has the look of a lad who's just been told off for leaving his pyjamas on his bedroom floor. Again.

"And he's 16..." Evans adds. "I don't know what I was doing aged 16. I wasn't driving a World Rally Car. But I was dreaming about driving one."

As a fearless and frighteningly fast 16-year-old, Kalle's living that dream.