When he first took the wheel of an F1 car, critics raised concerns about whether or not Max Verstappen was old enough to drive one of the fastest cars on earth after just 17 years on earth. So it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that even after winning three world championships, he’s still facing questions about whether or not he’s old enough to drive.
The latest doubter is the rental car company Sixt, which denied Verstappen the keys to a high power rental car due to the fact that he is 26. Because of its insurance policy, the company only rents certain vehicles to drivers who are 30 and over.
Ironically, given his erstwhile competition with the Mercedes F1 team, the car he was denied the keys to was a Mercedes-AM GT 4-Door, reports The Sun. One of around 20 cars that he and his friends rented during a trip to Portugal, he was eventually handed the keys to a less powerful BMW 5 Series.
Verstappen had reportedly also rented out the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve racetrack, which he and his party (a group of family and friends) had reportedly rented out for two days before they planned to continue on to Brazil.
A Sixt representative said that the employee who had denied Verstappen the car was just following the rules that were set out under the company’s insurance policy. They apologized to the driver, who has plenty of experience in fast cars, saying that the rule can be relaxed in certain situations.
“There can be special circumstances that justify a deviation from rules. This is such a case,” the spokesperson said. “We apologize to Mr Verstappen. He can rent the car he wants from us at any time. There is of course no doubt at all about his driving skills and his experience with powerful cars.”
