Will Buxton

NBCSN pre-season “Hero” filmshoot - Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, February 22nd 2015. I first met Max Verstappen in Palm Beach almost exactly one year before this photograph was taken. We were both taking part in the Ferrari Florida Winter Series, and for us both it was to be our first taste of competitive single seater racing. Max, of course, was the reigning KZ World and European kart champion and there was already a feeling that he was going to be very special. Quite incredibly, the 16 year old boy I met and the lad in whose wheel tracks I tried, and failed, to follow, was already the class of a field which included far older and far more experienced Formula 3 and GP2 drivers. One year later, following an incredible rookie year in F3 and a subsequent bidding war between the Mercedes and Red Bull F1 teams to secure his services, Max and I met once again. This time however, the 17 year old Max was a Formula 1 driver, and I’d be interviewing him for NBCSN. After the experience of sharing a racetrack with him in 2014 I'd told everyone who would listen that I believed this guy was going to change everything. None of us, however, could have forseen the impact he would make on the sport in his debut F1 season in 2015. The question now seems not of whether Max Verstappen will win a Formula 1 World Championship, but when… and how many.