“The smell of fuel, driving on the limit on the edge of sliding, it just gives you a lot of adrenaline.”
― Max Verstappen
“If you start doubting yourself like that, thinking, ‘Am I good enough?’ – maybe there is a reason you’re thinking that.”
― Max Verstappen
“This is what I have always done in my life, just racing and driving cars and go-karts fast.”
― Max Verstappen
“If you are a bit weak in your head, maybe you can train your mind, but it will never be your strong point.”
― Max Verstappen
“Of course my dad went to Formula One, so I think that my dad is the better driver of the two. But I think, for a girl, my mom was not too bad, of course.”
― Max Verstappen
“Of course I think everybody has moments in their careers when they’re frustrated, or you’re not happy with the current situation.”
― Max Verstappen
“I don’t need people shouting at me to tell me what I did wrong.”
― Max Verstappen
“As a driver, it is important to focus on yourself and believe in yourself, and there shouldn’t be a reason why, when you are in F1 and there is more attention, you change your approach.”
― Max Verstappen
“I think you can improve on everything; you’re never perfect.”
― Max Verstappen
“The biggest critic I have in my life is my dad, so everything else is just a breeze; it doesn’t really matter to me.”
― Max Verstappen
“Mistakes happen, and they happen to the best of us.”
― Max Verstappen
“I just want to do the best I can every time.”
― Max Verstappen
“My first memory of motor racing – I think it was just attending a go kart race.”
― Max Verstappen
“My dad always told me you have to be as quick as you can straight away out of the box. Some people say, ‘Feel your way into it; build it up.’ No. My dad would say, ‘Straight away, you have to be there.’ And I think that helps to warm up your tyres and brakes to be on it a bit more from lap one.”
― Max Verstappen
“You have to be patient: trust the team, that they can deliver a good job.”
― Max Verstappen
“My career is more important than girls.”
― Max Verstappen
“Ever since I was 7 years old, Formula 1 has been my career goal, so this opportunity is truly a dream come true.”
― Max Verstappen
“For me, it doesn’t matter if you are fighting a world champion or not.”
― Max Verstappen
“People always think they know better. In football, everybody thinks they can be head coach and do it better. It’s the same in F1: they always know better, even if they have no experience of it.”
― Max Verstappen
“I have good people around me, so I always have advice. A lot of people can talk to me, but it’s me, of course, who still has to take that to the track and to perform.”
― Max Verstappen
“You always have to believe in yourself, and I had that from karting.”
― Max Verstappen
“I tell my engineers that they should not overload me with information.”
― Max Verstappen
“We are getting way too much info in the cockpit. Sometimes I switch off the display in my car!”
― Max Verstappen
“When I was very little, my dad had his own go kart team as well while he was still in F1, so I always joined and riding through the paddock on my bicycle.”
― Max Verstappen
“I think it is very important to not be too much on social media. You have a lot of positive comments but also negative ones, and at the end of the day, that shouldn’t affect you, but it is much more important not to read it so you just don’t know.”
― Max Verstappen
“I can’t thank all the people at Scuderia Toro Rosso enough for all their hard work.”
― Max Verstappen
“Of course there will be difficult times, and there will be more in the future, but I know what I have to do in the car.”
― Max Verstappen
“I get really tired of all the comments saying I should change my approach.”
― Max Verstappen
“It’s just racing. Sometimes you have difficult moments, and then you try to work hard, and you keep working hard, and you overcome the situation. It’s as simple as that.”
― Max Verstappen
“I want to win because I am the fastest out there instead, not by luck; then it means a lot more to you.”
― Max Verstappen
“The world championship is what I am here for.”
― Max Verstappen
“If you haven’t really raced a lot in lower categories, and you make the jump to Formula One, you have to learn in Formula One, and a lot more people are watching.”
― Max Verstappen
“I never even think of the mental side of things because I never had any issues.”
― Max Verstappen
“I just enjoy it and drive as fast I can. But so many people think your psychology is such a massive thing. For me, it’s not necessary.”
― Max Verstappen
“Many people ask, ‘What do you need mentally to succeed in F1?’ I say, ‘What do you mean mentally?’”
― Max Verstappen
“It is not because others tell me I have to change my driving style that I will change.”
― Max Verstappen
“Of course I am doing a good job, but you can always improve, and I just leave it up to people outside, around me or whatever, to judge on that.”
― Max Verstappen
“Overtaking is one thing. That is an art. But defending as well. You should be able to defend your position.”
― Max Verstappen
“It changes from track-to-track, but when you are behind someone, you know after a few laps where they are weaker and stronger around the lap. You try to position yourself in the best possible way to attack them at a point they don’t expect or at the point that they are just not as strong as you. That’s how you try to get past.”
― Max Verstappen
“Some drivers are like that. When they get a bit angry, they can perform better.”
― Max Verstappen
“I’m normally not really an angry person. Maybe some other people have a different opinion.”
― Max Verstappen
“I want to rely on my gut feeling. Isn’t that what made great race drivers in the end?”
― Max Verstappen
“At the end of the day, driving on the limit, sometimes over it to achieve the best out of it, especially at such high speeds… mistakes are easily done.”
― Max Verstappen
“Sometimes I watch a football match, and I think I know better, but at the end of the day, we don’t. So I think people need to appreciate more what we are trying to achieve in the car.”
― Max Verstappen
“In general, the spotlight has been on me.”
― Max Verstappen
“It is very unfair, and on social media you have all these keyboard warriors who just type something, and they never say it to my face. That’s very weak I find.”
― Max Verstappen
“I just want to be myself. You learn from yourself, and that doesn’t mean you have to drive slower; it actually means you have to drive faster, but maybe with a little bit in control, and that’s what I learned.”
― Max Verstappen
“To just slow yourself down, just to not do anything and drive around – I’m not like that. I’m not here to fill up the field.”
― Max Verstappen
“I’ve always been good at realising what went wrong and stuff, and I was always being able to look at the positives from it.”
― Max Verstappen
“My ultimate dream is just to become world champion, and not only once. So that’s my dream, and it doesn’t matter with which team it is.”
― Max Verstappen
“To be honest, I never compare myself with the rookies.”
― Max Verstappen
“You always try to fight for yourself, isn’t it? You try to do the best possible job.”
― Max Verstappen
“I really want to thank Red Bull Racing and Dr. Helmut Marko for the confidence they have in me.”
― Max Verstappen
“The thing is, all the time I press my radio button, it is broadcast, and sometimes it sounds a bit arrogant – especially the ‘I’m not here to finish fourth’ – and that is just what comes up in my mind.”
― Max Verstappen
“I am not there to finish fourth at the end of the day. I am there to win as a racer, but on the radio, it sounds I am arrogant and not listening to the team, but it is not like that.”
― Max Verstappen
“I think, in general, not only in Formula One but just in a lot of sports, when younger people come in and they do well, there’s always a bit of talk going on. I think that’s pretty normal.”
― Max Verstappen
“To be honest, it doesn’t matter who is next to me in whatever team.”
― Max Verstappen
“There is no such thing as a low risk lap in Monaco. It doesn’t exist if you want to be fast, because you have to be on the limit.”
― Max Verstappen
“Preparation for Monaco is a little different: you definitely build up a little bit slower throughout the weekend and pace yourself. It’s important to find the limit carefully.”
― Max Verstappen
“I’ve raced at the Hungaroring in Formula 3, and it’s a bit of a Mickey Mouse track.”
― Max Verstappen
“I focus on myself, but all these stupid comments you read on social media and journalists, it’s really stupid.”
― Max Verstappen
“It doesn’t matter as long as, at one point, I’m in a championship-winning car. I don’t care about my team-mate.”
― Max Verstappen
“If you are not allowed to defend, what’s racing about, then?”
― Max Verstappen
“In the end, I think in F1 it is very hard for a girl.”
― Max Verstappen
“I was never Mad Max. I was just Max who was trying to get the best result for the team.”
― Max Verstappen
“As a driver, I will always be the same guy.”
― Max Verstappen
“I always try to get the best result out of it, I’m not there to just sit second or sit third. I’m a winner, and I want to win every single race, and I will always go for it.”
― Max Verstappen
“Maybe I can drive until I’m 36 or 37. 40.”
― Max Verstappen
“As racing drivers, you always have those moments that it gets a bit heated, but then you start from zero again.”
― Max Verstappen
“I say what I think, and if somebody attacks me unfairly, I definitely tell them.”
― Max Verstappen
“I grew up going to race rings, and I really enjoyed it.”
― Max Verstappen
“That’s what I enjoy, always driving on the limit of what you can do.”
― Max Verstappen
“Of course you learn from certain moments, and you always get more and more experience, so maybe in the future you will do some different things, but in general, the basics always stay the same.”
― Max Verstappen
“I think it’s always better to be in an F1 car because, in general, the car behaves itself.”
― Max Verstappen
“I have to say it was a very good start, a very good first season. I enjoyed it a lot, scored good points and gained a lot of experience.”
― Max Verstappen
“I think if you show respect on the track to each other, and you do clean overtaking moves, then they get respect for you.”
― Max Verstappen
“It is not only about just doing a fast lap. You also need to use your brains and be clever, and I think that is what makes you a complete driver at the end.”
― Max Verstappen
“You always want to do better than last year.”
― Max Verstappen
“Sometimes it’s better to come through from, say, last to eighth than staying eighth, and you’ve qualified eighth!”
― Max Verstappen
“I did like history. I was always quite interested and got good grades as well.”
― Max Verstappen
“I always wanted to be a racing driver. Even if it was not F1, it would be something else.”
― Max Verstappen
“The only place that matters is first.”
― Max Verstappen
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