Max Verstappen says China was 'life lesson'

  • Published on 17 Apr 2018 09:33
  • comments 7
  • By: Rob Veenstra

Max Verstappen has committed to taking a step back amid a firestorm of criticism. F1 legend Niki Lauda questioned his "intelligence", and even Verstappen's father and mentor Jos said the ill-fated move on Sebastian Vettel in China was "clearly poor judgement".

Verstappen, 20, is renowned for his exciting and aggressive driving style, but now in his fourth year of formula one, some believe he should "calm down". "Maybe I should not calm down, but oversee the situation a bit more," Verstappen admitted. "I don't think I necessarily need to be less aggressive, but maybe I am just wanting it too much."

"I have been quite good at overtaking before but, somehow, this year, maybe with the previous two races not going my way, I've wanted to recover the points and it's worked against me," he added. "It's a life lesson and I need to learn from what has happened."

Speaking to the broadcaster Ziggo Sport Totaal, Jos Verstappen said he will catch up with his son this week and then attend the forthcoming races with him. "In a normal fashion we will analyse what happened," said Jos. "But he damn well knows it himself. I don't need to explain it to him anymore." (GMM)

You can't really say he's outracing him when he can't finish a race. The difference between a champion and a Maldonado is being able to learn from your mistakes. Let's see how he progresses.

  • 1
  • Apr 18 2018 - 18:27

Replies (7)

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  • FatMike

    Posts: 153

    lets not over analyse the whole thing. He made a mistake, he apologized for it to his team and vettel. For the rest his reflections on his performance are his own.

    ppl/media now are acting as if there is a deep underlying cause for this. weird mumbojumbo. Even at a later age racers will have their dubious moments. better luck next time

    • + 0
    • Apr 17 2018 - 11:28
  • We're talking about a boy, 20 years old, who on average wins 1:12 ever since he came to Red Bull. This is the first time in F1 that things haven't gone crescendo for him and that's perfectly normal.

    Didn't Sebastian Vettel run off his team mate in Turkey 2010 en route to his first world title? Hasn't Lewis Hamilton made several overambitious maneuvers AFTER he already was crowned a world champion once in the 2009-2012 period?

    Face it, the guys that will be seen as greats in hindsight all need controversy and a touch of arrogance, or at least some political savvy. But here, we have a talented guy, that hasn't had a decent weekend in 2018 so far and the media and public decide to all take a shit on that one bird that hasn't flown yet.

    • + 0
    • Apr 17 2018 - 15:05
  • Looks like he had a locker room talk with Dr.Hell.

    • + 0
    • Apr 17 2018 - 16:09
  • Good if it was, hope he will learn from it. He is a good driver, but he needs to cool down. Ricciardo can do some amazing lunges, but they are amazing not because of their speed, but because so far very few of them has resulted in incidents. Learn from your team mate.

    • + 0
    • Apr 17 2018 - 20:55
  • boudy

    Posts: 1,168

    Nah. Learn from your mistakes. Ricciardo is very good but not great. Verstappen is out qualifying and out racing him. So what that he made 2 mistakes he's very quick learner and this will aid him in the long run.

    Does this season get any better. So much drama. It's fantastic; best start of season in the last 15 years.

    • + 0
    • Apr 17 2018 - 23:22
    • You can't really say he's outracing him when he can't finish a race. The difference between a champion and a Maldonado is being able to learn from your mistakes. Let's see how he progresses.

      • + 1
      • Apr 18 2018 - 18:27
    • boudy

      Posts: 1,168

      Well he did finish the race but the incidents were clumsy. However he learns very quick and I rate him very highly and he has lit up formula 1 since his arrival something that Ricciardo failed to do. The comparisons that people are making are ridiculous. He himself has never stated anything and pretended to be anything else than himself, he has been a solid finisher for a long time.

      • + 0
      • Apr 19 2018 - 10:20

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