"Max isn’t arrogant but he does brim with self-confidence" - Ex-team boss claims Max Verstappen is "far more mature"

Former team manager at Toro Rosso, Graham Watson, has claimed that Max Verstappen is far more mature than most people think. Watson has described the 24-year-old as a “special talent” who has “huge levels of self-confidence” in the car.

In an interview with Motorsport.com, Watson said:

“Max isn’t arrogant but like his father, he does brim with self-confidence. I saw that for the first time in Brazil (2015), where he had quite a moment during free practice and almost crashed heavily.”

“Normally a young driver would be upset, but Max managed to keep the car under control and a lap later set the fastest time.”

“We also have to remember Max was driving our race car for the weekend. Anyway, even at that age I never thought: oh my god, he’s going to get back into our car and it’s going to go hopelessly wrong.”

“It’s hard to put into words exactly what I felt, but from that moment I knew Max would be special.”

Max Verstappen became the youngest driver to start an F1 race when he debuted for Scuderia Toro Rosso at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, at just 17 years old.

In his rookie year, Verstappen finished in fourth place twice, and scored 49 points – more than double the number of points compared to his then-teammate Carlos Sainz Jr (18).

The following year, at just 18 years of age, he stepped up to the Red Bull Racing team. He then won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix on debut for the team, becoming the youngest driver to win an F1 race.

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Max Verstappen’s former race engineer says Dutchman was “frighteningly good” on first F1 test

Max Verstappen’s former race engineer at Toro Rosso, Xevi Pujolar, says that the Dutchman was “frighteningly good” on his first outing in an F1 car. Before his F1 debut in 2015, Verstappen took part in an F1 test with Toro Rosso at the Adria circuit in Italy, where he impressed his future squad.

In an interview with Gazzetta.it, Pujolar said:

“We did a 148-lap test, over 500km in total with the 2012 STR7.”

“Even then, he went very fast. I also remember for most of that day, the asphalt was wet, especially in the morning. And for a rookie driver, it’s never the best thing to be in a single-seater on a track as treacherous as that one.”

“But he mastered the car in a frightening way.”

Max Verstappen stepped up to F1 after just one year of single-seater racing, which is highly unconventional. Despite losing the European F3 championship in 2014 to fellow F1 driver Esteban Ocon, Verstappen’s impressive performances throughout were enough to pique the interest of F1 teams, including Mercedes and Red Bull.

While Mercedes wanted Verstappen to follow the conventional path to F1, moving up the latter through junior formulae, Red Bull offered him an F1 seat on their junior team straight away.