‘I CAN RELAX TO THE MAX NOW I’M No.1’

MAX VERSTAPPEN reckons he has returned to Silverstone a more relaxed character now that he has the NUMBER ONE on his car.

And the world champion (at the first British GP practice session, above) claims he has well and truly buried the hatchet with Lewis Hamilton a year after their infamous collision put the Dutchman in hospital.

Verstappen’s temper has surfaced on occasions this season, but the championship leader insists his title success HAS chilled him out.

He explained: “My dream was, of course, always to try to win races, but the ultimate dream was to win with the number one on your car.

“Because how many times do you have that opportunity in life?

“I am more relaxed, but I’m not lazy. I know when I jump in the car, I still want to achieve the best.”

And that means he is unlikely to curb his angry radio messages.

“I can still get upset,” he told GP Racing. “I still want the best during a weekend, and I’m still gonna tell what I find of the situation, or what I think can be done better.”

He was certainly upset 12 months ago when the high-speed coming-together with Hamilton – who received a 10-second time penalty, but went on to win the race – put him out of the contest.

But Verstappen (in his gold boots, below) insists that is all water under the bridge, even though he could not resist reminding Hamilton that he is not competing at the front of the grid.

Verstappen (below) said: “That’s the beautiful thing about racing drivers. At the time you are upset, but you can also quickly say ‘let’s forget about it’ and move on.

“Clashes happen and some are a bit more painful than others, but if you look at how we are interacting this year, it is behind us. We still race hard against each other on the track... just not as often as we did last year.”