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Verstappen admits: I was too eager at start of the season

Verstappen admits: "I was too eager at start of the season"

28-12-2018 12:52
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has admitted that in the first races of the 2018 season he was pushing too hard, as the Dutchman explained he desperately wanted to get a good result early in the RB14.

It's hard to imagine now, as Verstappen's last 15 races of the season have been nothing short of incredible, but the 21-year-old endured a lot of criticism at the start of 2018. In Australia, he spun his car around mid-race, losing several places, while also crashing in qualifying in Bahrain and hitting Sebastian Vettel during the Chinese Grand Prix. 

The final straw was in Monaco, when he threw away a potential pole position and a Red Bull front row lock-out by ramming the wall in FP3 and damaging his car quite severely.

When asked if he simply was in less of a rush in the second half of the season and had fewer accidents because of that, Verstappen was quick to nuance it a bit more.

"I wouldn't call it rushed," he told Dutch newspaper AD.

"I just wanted a good result too much in those first races. It wasn't rushed, I was just, how do you say it, too eager. Too eager, but not too rushed.

"In Shanghai, for example, I could've waited for a lap to overtake Lewis, but I wanted to pass him in that one corner. I thought 'that spot will do'. He pushes me off the track slightly, and I lose my place to Daniel.

"Maybe if we would've done that race over now, I would've picked a different spot to overtake him. But in hindsight, it's easy to say."