From dream to nightmare: Max Verstappen crashes on first public F1 outing

When you’re 16, life’s pretty strange. You can feel elated and invincible one second and like you want to hide under a rock for all eternity the next. Max Verstappen, who will become Formula One’s youngest driver next year, probably knows exactly how that feels.

In his case though, that might be more down to the fact that he crashed on his first public outing in an F1 car than his age.

During a public appearance in Rotterdam, Verstappen managed a few doughnuts and burnouts before anticlimactically stalling, getting pushed back onto the track by marshals and feebly crashing into a barrier.

The young Dutchman’s team, Torro Rosso, will be hopeful that he’s a little more graceful come race day especially given his pedigree. Verstappen is the son of former Benetton driver Jos, who is the most successful Dutch Formula One driver, and has also won races in A1 Grand Prix and Le Mans Series LMP2 races.

Then again, most F1 races don’t involve a lot of doughnuts.