30/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen has passed his driving test, six months after his F1 debut.
The youngster celebrated his 18th birthday by announcing the news on his website revealing that having successfully passed the theory test earlier in the yea, he had passed the road test after just five hours with his instructor.
"It's great to be eighteen and to have a driving license," he said. "That I'm finally allowed on the road on my own gives me more independence, which is great! I have to say it's a relief to pass the test.
"If I want to go somewhere on my own, at least now I'm able to jump in my Renault Clio RS and go," he added. "That sense of liberty feels great."
The youngster, who only made his single-seater debut last year, has taken F1 by storm, and is widely regarded as one of the brightest talents to enter the sport in recent years.
Fourteen races into his F1 career, Verstappen is 12th in the drivers' standings, narrowly missing out on a podium finish in Hungary.
Following his signing by Tor Rosso, aged 16, amidst fears that the recruitment of such a young driver might start a dangerous trend, the FIA introduced a new minimum age (18) along with a complicated superlicence qualification system.