Max Verstappen: “Ready for the new season”

Published on 12 March 2015 by Stefan Meens

Every Thursday before a Grand Prix, the FIA schedules an official Formula 1 drivers press conference. Max Verstappen, on the brink of becoming the youngest driver to contest a Grand Prix, was invited for the first press conference of the season. The Toro Rosso driver was joined by reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen.

With Max making his F1 debut aged 17, several questions were asked regarding the Dutchman’s age and if he feels prepared for Formula 1 racing. “Yes, I feel ready for the new season. The race pace of the Toro Rosso looked good during the tests”, explains Max. 

“Compared to last year, I did three Friday practices, the car is a really good step forward, especially on the long runs we did. It was very promising. I felt really good in the car, I could do a lot of laps. So yeah I was really happy about that and it gives me a lot of confidence to go into this race.” 

In the last decade, Max spend a lot of time going from racetrack to racetrack so he is no stranger to traveling a lot. However, as a F1 driver he is traveling all across the globe, competing against some of his heroes. How does that feel?
“Well, to be honest, since I was younger, I’ve never seen anything else because my dad was doing it, I basically grew up into it. For me, it doesn’t feel like anything new, I just deal with it.“

Apart from the question regarding his age, Max was also asked some racing related questions, specifically what he thought of the new tyres. “It’s all new for me so I can still learn a lot on that front. But from what I can tell comparing last year’s tyres to the new ones, they’re definitely an improvement so I’m feeling good. I’ll give it my best to preserve the tyres as long as I can in the race.”

Finally, when Max’ colleagues were asked to give the Toro Rosso star some advice ahead of his first Grand Prix weekend, Lewis Hamilton had a startling realization. “I’ve only just realised, I’m the oldest driver here, the first time. I’ve kind of only just realised it. Jeez. You were born in ’97?  I signed my first contract with McLaren in ’97. Bloody ‘ell. I don’t really have any words of wisdom for you."

Check out Verstappen.nl for the latest new from Melbourne. Here you can find the weekend's schedule.