Verstappen ready to take more risks

2015 Bahrain Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Max Verstappen says that he is now more willing to take risks after completing his first races as a Formula 1 driver.

After pulling off a series of impressive overtaking moves in China, the Toro Rosso driver says his confidence is growing by the race.

“Yeah, some good overtakes – I was really enjoying that!”, said Verstappen.

“Every race I’m getting more and more confident in the car. Especially in the first two races you don’t want to take many risks. I decided in China that it was time to do some overtakes and take some more risks.

“I was really enjoying my race. We didn’t have a great qualifying, but still I thought we could have a great race because I felt the car on race pace is just really strong.”

The 17-year-old was running in eighth in China before his car ground to a halt on the pit straight with only a handful of laps remaining. Verstappen is keen to put that disappointment behind him in Bahrain.

“We will do our best to deliver a good race here and try to score points,” says Verstappen.

“At the moment the car is capable of it and I’m feeling much better every race in the car, so I’m really looking forward to this race.”

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

35 comments on “Verstappen ready to take more risks”

  1. Holy hell this guy is going to blow our hats off. He’s already shown very very impressive stuff and he still is holding back.

    1. Agreed. It’s fun to watch the beginning of his career and will be to see it evolve as well. My hope is that he is not limited too much by tires etc. Of course that is the same for all drivers and he can still shine amongst a field that are all suffering the same limitations of barely being able to push an F1 car these days, but boy I wish F1 was still a sprint with only the more normal smattering of conservation involved, rather than it almost all being about monitoring everything, and then we could really see Max stand out. Here’s hoping he does anyway.

    2. Pretty much what I thought too when I saw that headline too!

  2. This guy’s talent is ridiculous. I mean, i never saw a guy who overtook the way he did with all that smoothness and agile….that is not something you can learn, thats something you have or dont have. 99.5% dont have it….so i quess he really is something special.

    Next big thing after Senna and Schumi….Max

    1. Saying that is really kind of an insult to Verstappen. He has worked very very hard to become this good. Saying that this talent is something you have or don’t have really takes away all that hard work from him. It’s like saying someone is gifted. Most people put in thousands of hours to become a master of something. Only to then be called gifted.

      I don’t mean to put you down here, I understand your sentiment. It’s just the way it’s said.

      1. so far i understand that not everybody is the same.. yes he is gifted. some people work hard.. same as a gifted.. but the gifted get better result.. even when they do the same.. same rutine.. same everything.. thats what i call being gifted.. and not everybody have it.. being gifted doesnt mean.. you wake up and inmediatly youre better than everybody.. is just they get more of the same work others do.. in my opinion

      2. Most people put thousands of hours in to training but most people doesnt get called “gifted”.

        Those thousends of hours in training is mandatory for everyone desiering to step into F1 and aint unique for Verstappen.

  3. He can drive, he can overtake- nothing to lose. STR10 just waitin…

  4. I sense a crash coming.

    Most of his overtakes I’ve seen this season, while initially looking impressive, have on closer inspection required that the other guy moves out of the way to avoid an accident.

    I get that attitude of “move out of the way or we’re crashing”. Many drivers have opted for that approach in the past, and it does provide some entertaining overtakes, but if he’s planning to take more risk, that’s a crash.

    1. @cdavman As somebody who spend quite some time racing online I agree with you. If I tried such moves, even while I’m a very good braker, I’d get fuzz from my co-racers. ‘You’re divebombing!’…

      I agree they are spectacular from one point of view but one can only wonder how many times this is going to lead to unnecessary crashes in the future.

    2. Those kind of moves are just another reminder of the young Senna for me, to go with Max’s confidence and composure in interviews (and his boss’s comment, of course).

      Got to wonder what could have happened if he’d caught up with one of the less switched-on drivers in the F1 community (driving a black car with an unlucky number, perhaps). Or the overblown reaction and hype if he’d had the accident Button had. Lewis Hamilton learned that lesson the hard way at Ste-Devote. But it hasn’t happened with Max, so I’m just enjoying how good he is on the brakes. Wonder if he could make a Red Bull stop?!

    3. ColdFly F1 (@)
      16th April 2015, 22:01

      his overtakes (…) required that the other guy moves out of the way to avoid an accident

      That’s standard when you overtake on the inside and ‘block’ the apex!
      The bit I liked was the braking late, not locking up, and keeping fairly high speed through those turns.
      @cdavman

      Early days – but so far so good.

      1. yea thats the standard.. but i dont think he will be as lucky next time.. if he ever meets a driver more aggresive like hamilton, vettel or alonso

        PD: nico is pu$$y!!! lol

      2. @coldfly
        This is true, but you still have to be in control. If you look at his Ericsson overtake he barely gets it stopped and almost left Ericsson with nowhere to go, that move crossed the line for me.

        1. @george That would have been a crash had it not been for Ericsson.

          Verstappen is fast and talented for sure but he’s bound to throw good points away with such overtakes when he is less lucky.

        2. I would have to agree about the Ericcson overtake. The 1st time I saw it, I thought it was ridiculously aggressive. Sure, he didn’t lock up his brakes.. good job for that, but that doesn’t change the fact that he dived on the inside and took such a wide exit that Ericcson had to literally halt his car to avoid making contact.

          I thought his move on Sainz (i think) was pretty impressive.. biut honestly.. if he says he’s going to start taking more ‘risks’ now, then my guess is we might see a few Pastor Maldonado or early Romain Grosjean moments from him

          1. No, he said that he was going to take more risks after Malaysia. Which he did in China.

    4. I had similar thoughts too. I’m wondering how he’s going to manage when he’s used up his 4 engines.

    5. Part of the finesse with passing is to be far enough ahead of the driver you are passing at the most crucial moments. Also, making the other driver aware you are there and knowing when they are not aware and adjusting to that.

      I see a difference in most of Verstappen’s passing moves so far than what has been seen with some of the brute force type pass attempts by drivers such as Maldonado and sometimes Perez. Many times we see drivers make a forced move when they are not ahead or known to be there by the opposing driver and they still expect the other driver to move over and get out of the way or just crash into them anyway. So far, Verstappen has used enough finesse and awareness to be successful.

      In my 50 years or so of watching F1 one of the most enjoyable aspects is to see young talented drivers enter the sport and develop. I hope this continues with Verstappen.

    6. It wont be that easy to do these overtaking moves with the big boys, but he has good control over the cars while braking.

    7. Just like Ide, Kobi and Maldonado. Just a bit faster and talented :)

  5. F1 has become a kindergarten, can you imagine 11 years ago a teenager coming into the sport and pulling those impressive overtakes ? DRS has turned F1 into a joke.

    1. @abdelilah But what about the move Verstappen pulled on Perez into Turn Four? That was not in a DRS zone.

    2. @abdelilah

      can you imagine 11 years ago a teenager coming into the sport and pulling those impressive overtakes ? DRS has turned F1 into a joke.

      OK, first of all, those weren’t DRS overtakes as his STR simply didn’t have the top speed even with DRS to make a fly-by pass.
      Second, 11 years ago a teenager coming into the sport? Well, not eleven years, but try 8 years, 14 years and 15 years ago. Also in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s we saw teenagers making their debut.

    3. Yeah right, overtaking on the big straight was really easy for all the renaults, ask Ricciardo… ;)

      And it’s not only the overtaking, it’s also 3 times in a row keeping a mercedes off your back after overtaking with 2 DRS zones each lap to follow. Max did it perfect 3 times in a row, while Ricciardo kept strugling all over, lap after lap.

      So don’t ask how easy nowadays F1 must be since a 17y old can fit in that easily, ask why a 17y old could do stuff that even an older topdog like Ricciardo couldn’t at that moment. If F1 is a kindergarten, then some of the primaries seem to have missed out on a lesson or two.

  6. after completing his first races as a Formula 1 driver.

    Except poor Max hasn’t completed any races yet. He must hate Renault by now.

    1. @hic142 Don’t forget, Verstappen did finish seventh in Malaysia. :)

      1. Yea, remembered that just before you posted. :)

        1. @hic142 Typical, isn’t it!

    2. Nevermind, just remembered he did manage to finish in Malaysia (Ironic considering that that was probably the toughest race on the engines due to the heat).

  7. The headline made me think ‘nooooo, don’t Max, don’t!’
    But then I read the interview and it became clear that he HAS BEEN taking more risks from China onward.

    I got scared because the headline made me think he wanted to be more aggressive than in China.

  8. He is not ready for f1 yet, he makes lot of mistakes. So stop losing your panties girls, because he hasnt done anything impressive yet.

    1. I am curious about what races you have been watching.

      1. Vettel won a GP in a STR car. Max still has to match that :p

    2. Rot ‘n trol, it’s a way of life.

Comments are closed.