IN CONVERSATION WITH MAX VERSTAPPEN

F1’s youngest GP winner defends his ‘aggressive’ racing style

Last year you won your first race, the Spanish GP, but you had some other fantastic results – such as Brazil, where you finished third. Have you had any time to reflect on what you achieved?

To be honest, I haven’t thought about it too much because I prefer to look forwards. But I was very happy with that race in Brazil – and the victory in Barcelona; that will always be something special. Yeah, I enjoyed it, and I learned a lot as well. I came into a new team in the middle of the season and that’s not the easiest thing to do, but I think I handled it pretty well.

Were there any races where you felt like you still had a few things to learn?

There are always races where you can do better. And that’s also good, because you learn from those things as well, and it keeps you motivated to do better afterwards.

Any in particular that you’re thinking of?

The race after Barcelona, Monaco, didn’t go to plan, but I tried to learn from the positives and the negatives of the weekend. When I go back there this year, I’ll try to change my approach.

When Nico Rosberg left Mercedes at the end of 2016, you were funny on Twitter, saying things like: “Toto, are you ready to give me a call?”

Yeah, I have a good relationship with Toto. He’s a very nice person. I’m very happy where I am, and that’s why it was a joke because everybody was making fun of it and it looked like everybody was trying to take the seat. But I’m very happy. You have to be loyal; Red Bull gave me the opportunity to get into Formula 1 and they promoted me up to Red Bull Racing, and we have a long-term contract as well. So, like I said, I’m happy where I am and hopefully we can take up the fight this year.

Some people have said, perhaps unfairly, that you’re too aggressive on track. Charlie Whiting brought in the ‘Max Verstappen Rule’ [which stopped the driver ahead from moving across in the braking zone] – how do you feel about that?

To be honest, I was just trying to do the best I could. This year they’ll let us race a lot more openly, because I think people agreed that penalising drivers excessively is not the right way for the sport to go. I always focus on myself, and even if they change rules for me, personally, it doesn’t really bother me.

Do you think other drivers are afraid of you?

I wouldn’t say they’re afraid. I think at the end of the day, you always believe in yourself and you try to do the best possible job. I mean, of course, every driver has that thing where you know who you can fight hard or who you have to be a bit more careful with.

Who do you most enjoy racing against?

I always like to race against the more skilful drivers; that’s always more fun. It’s because they have more experience, they’ve been in a lot of battles before, so normally it should be more difficult to ‘pass them easily’. It’s more tricky.

Where do you think you got your speed from? Is it something you can practise or is it something you are born with?

Of course you need the talent, and luckily I got that from my parents. And then I had the right guidance since I was very young, from my dad. He has basically taught me a lot about how to behave as a professional and we practise a lot on becoming a better driver. Because talent alone is not enough to get to Formula 1. I think all those combinations have worked together.

You seem completely unafraid of Formula 1 – you won a grand prix in your second season. It’s been quite a meteoric rise…

Ever since I was in karting, my dad always told me: “You have to be as fast as you can straight away, within five laps.” And I always applied that to formula cars as well, and I tried to adapt as soon as I could, because there isn’t much time. Maybe other dads tell their children: “Ah, just take it easy, get comfortable…” No. Don’t take it easy. Just try to go as fast as you can, because you don’t have time. You have to adapt very quickly. I think that my dad’s advice has helped me a lot since I was very young, preparing to be on it straight away.

“MY DAD ALWAYS TOLD ME: ‘YOU HAVE TO BE AS FAST AS YOU CAN STRAIGHT AWAY, WITHIN FIVE LAPS’… I THINK THAT HAS HELPED ME A LOT, PREPARING TO BE ON IT STRAIGHT AWAY”