F1 News: Max Verstappen admits he was ‘lucky’ to pass driving test

F1 Off the Track

Verstappen admits to being 'lucky' in key driving achievement

The Dutchman has since gone on to achieve great things in F1

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 26 January 2024 11:57

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Three-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has said that it would have been 'embarrassing' if he hadn't of 'luckily' scraped through his driving test, after arguments with the invigilator.

The Dutchman was racing in F1 before he was even able to legally drive a road car on his own in his home country, a point that was constantly put across during his debut season with the then-called Toro Rosso team.

18 is the age in which drivers in the Netherlands are able to drive without a guardian watching over them, and 18 was the age in which Verstappen claimed his first race victory in F1.

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Verstappen's first team boss Franz Tost recently said that journalists repeatedly called him crazy for originally signing the Dutchman, who signed his first contract aged just 16.

Max Verstappen drove alongside Carlos Sainz in his first season in F1

Max Verstappen claimed his first race victory aged just 18

Max Verstappen is a three-time Formula 1 world champion

Verstappen's embarrassing driving test

Now one of the most successful F1 drivers of his generation, Verstappen has opened up on the time in which he did take his driving test, a few months into his debut season in 2015.

“The examiner told me to go right and I went left,” he told The Times.

“Then I didn’t give way [to pedestrians at a crossing].

“He was not very happy. I argued with him because I thought they were not actually at the crossing.

“So I was, like, 'But they’re not there yet, so why should I stop?'

“I did, yeah, luckily [pass]. It would be quite embarrassing if I hadn’t. I think he was nice to me.”