“I have to say it’s a relief to pass," Toro Rosso youngster says
Wednesday 30 September 2015 14:45, UK
One year after getting his FIA Super Licence, which allows him to race F1 cars, Max Verstappen can finally drive a road car.
The Dutch youngster turned 18 years old on Wednesday and passed his driving test - unsurprisingly perhaps - at the first attempt.
"Legal to drive, born to race #driverlicense," Verstappen tweeted, along with a photograph of himself grinning behind the wheel.
"It's great to be 18 and to have a driving license", he told his personal website. "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. I was a bit nervous to make mistakes, but the exam went well."
Verstappen, the sport's youngest-ever driver - and likely to remain so, after the governing body changed its Super Licence criteria to bar anyone under 18 - has seemed anything but nervous during his debut season with Toro Rosso, with a series of eye-catching performances to his name.
He currently stands 12th in the drivers' championship with 32 points and finished ninth in the Japanese GP last weekend.
It's probably little wonder, then, that Verstappen spent less than five hours with an instructor and only had his first lesson on Monday.
He passed his theory test in January and since then has been allowed to drive a car under supervision in Belgium, where he lives.
Don't miss the F1 Midweek Report on Wednesday night at 8.30pm when Ted Kravitz and David Brabham join Natalie Pinkham to discuss the Japanese GP
