16-year old Belgian becomes youngest driver to race in Formula One

The son of former Benetton and Tyrrell driver Jos Verstappen has been confirmed a seat in Formula One with Red Bull sister team - Scuderia Torro Rosso - in 2015. With the announcement, Max Verstappen will become the youngest Formula One driver in history after replacing Jean-Eric Vergne with Daniil Kyvat as his team mate.

The Belgian driver was signed to Red Bull's junior programme in 2013 and is currently in his first year driving single seaters. When he starts at the Melbourne Grand Prix at the start of the 2015 season, he will be 17-years old (16-years old at press time), making him the youngest driver to compete in the world championship.

To date Jaime Alguersuari, a former driver from  the same team, is the youngest driver to have started a Grand Prix when he was 19 years of age and 125 days back in 2009.

Verstappen's rapid promotion to the pinnacle of car racing moves him past three other drivers on Red Bull's young driver programme: Formula Renault 3.5 points leader Carlos Sainz Jnr, GP3 points leader Alex Lynn, and Pierre Gasly, currently third in Formula Renault 3.5.

"First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Helmut Marko and Red Bull for all their trust and giving me the chance to make my debut in 2015 with Scuderia Toro Rosso. Ever since I was seven years old, Formula One has been my career goal, so this opportunity is truly a dream come true", remarked Verstappen.

Verstappen's predecessor, Jean-Eric Vergne, leaves the team after three seasons, with Team Principal Franz Tost thanking him for all his hard work. Tost remarked, "Vergne has produced strong performances, but unfortunately he was also hindered by some reliability problems, especially in the first half of the current season. We hope that we have resolved these problems and that he will be able to end the second half of this season on a high note and thereby show that he still deserves another opportunity in Formula One."