Breaking news

Formula 1

Verstappen has looked "over-eager" - Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen has looked "over-eager" in the early stages of the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Edd Straw

Edd Straw

Edited: May 10, 2018, 10:42 AM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 Tag Heuer, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 Tag Heuer

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing walks away following his crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 Tag Heuer, leads Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 Tag Heuer

Verstappen has been embroiled in a series of incidents, culminating in his part in the collision with teammate Daniel Ricciardo that put both Red Bulls out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Horner has backed Verstappen to bounce back from his difficult start to the year, during which the 20-year-old has notched up a fifth and a sixth place and two retirements.

"Ultimately, he will emerge the other side of this, the most important thing is to learn from mistakes," Horner told Motorsport.com.

"The start of this season has been tough for him, in many cases it's looked like he's over-eager. I'm extremely confident that he will learn from and recognise his mistakes."

Horner has confirmed Red Bull will not change its policy of having no number one and number two driver, and is determined to re-sign out-of-contract Daniel Ricciardo for 2019.

He believes Verstappen will learn from the example set by Ricciardo, who has had a clean season other than being held jointly responsible for the Baku collision by both the team and the FIA stewards.

"The other thing he benefits from, or will benefit from, is that his team-mate is very polished and the finished article and obviously at a different stage in his development," said Horner.

"I think he can and will learn a lot of lessons from Daniel because, even after the incident in Azerbaijan, there is a respect that he has for him.

"Daniel provides a very good and rounded benchmark there."

Horner has also paid tribute to the way both Verstappen and Ricciardo have conducted themselves in the wake of the Azerbaijan GP collision.

The pair apologised in person at the Red Bull factory on Wednesday last week, and have remained on good terms.

"They stood in front of the staff and apologised and they spoke very openly," said Horner.

"We've had a discussion in my office about the incident and they will talk in private about it in order to learn from it.

"Both drivers handled the aftermath to Baku in an exemplary manner, in the way they dealt with the media, they've come here and stood in front of every employee and apologised.

"The best way for them to make up for that is by delivering on track."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Miami F1 vote set to be a formality

Next article Fittipaldi was in Haas F1 test talks before crash

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Edd Straw



How the Senna myth has been transformed

Formula 1

Formula 1

How the Senna myth has been transformed



Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock

Formula 1

Formula 1

Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock



The lost F1 team that launched Adrian Newey

Formula 1

Formula 1

The lost F1 team that launched Adrian Newey

More from

Max Verstappen



How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos



Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

11 h

Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP



‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?

Formula 1

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

19 h

‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?

Latest news



Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed



Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

24 min

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management



WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

2 h

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash



How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Feature

Discover prime content



How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once



How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos



"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap



What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe