Teen star Max Verstappen insists it’s his DAD’S fault he is so aggressive on F1 track
Red Bull's hot prospect is keen to show why he is the hottest talent in motorsport as the new season starts in Melbourne
MAX VERSTAPPEN is ready to show the rest of the grid who is the boss.
Red Bull's 19-year-old has already carved out a reputation for himself as the sport's hottest property.
A win on his debut for Red Bull in Spain last year, and his heroic drive in the rain in Brazil underlined his growing reputation.
Keep up to date with ALL the motorsport news
Furthermore, he's refusing to get caught up in driver politics.
His swashbuckling style has not always been to his peers' linking as they rounded on him on numerous occasions last season, accusing him of being too aggressive.
Hardly surprising given his parenting, with his dad Jos, a well-known hardman who earned his nick name "Jos the boss" during his racing days.
He said: "My attitude all comes from my dad. There is nobody harder on me than my dad, no matter what other people say, it is never that hard, compared to him.
"The dynamic is more intense than perhaps Lewis or Jenson had with their dads. When I was a kid, he was always tuning my engines or being my mechanic.
"We travelled all the time two and from the track, so he was more than just my dad. We would spend every day working together.
"We still travel together a lot. He still gives me advice. He is always there to oversee things and if I have a question I can always ask him and it is great that we can share experiences.
"He's been there and it is great to benefit from his knowledge."
Verstappen senior was without doubt the driving force behind his son's career as he would constantly push his son to breaking point.
He added: "I remember we went on a go-kart holiday together for two weeks in Italy and my dad joined as well.
"Dad would take a little bit of a faster engine, so he would be two or three tenths faster than us per lap and for the whole day we did 30 or 40 races of five laps.
"Each time you would start in a different position on the grid and then my dad was always the one who was the quickest,
so he would always overtake you or he would get a really good start off the line. We got so much racing experience from that.
"We would only ever do five laps, because normally after five laps a race settles in, but in those first five laps you can learn so much.
"After the five laps we would stop and my dad would talk me through what could be done better and then we would do another race in different positions.
"A lot of my actions at the moment are based from that start, where I started to learn to race properly and race clever." Verstappen has also had to learn a lot off track too as he has had to cope with fame.
The Dutch ace recently won the country's Sports Personality of the Year Award and the orange army of supporters brought plenty of colour to the Belgian GP last year.
He added: "There are general things from certain situations, which could be good or bad, that we can learn from.
"I know I cannot go out with my friends and have a crazy night in Amsterdam because I know it will be all over the newspapers the next day and people will all say 'look at Max in Amsterdam..." "You have to learn and a lot of my friends are in to racing, so we don't party that much, I can't with the life I have because I like being at the track and trying to perform to my best."
most read in football
Despite all the high-praise and attention he has been getting, Verstappen is remarkably level-headed and refuses to be drawn on the pressure of being labelled a future F1 world champion.
He said: "I don't think about it too much. I have not set any goals, we will have to wait and see but it is nice to hear because it means I did something well last year.
"But right now we will have to wait until the end of the first race before we know what can happen.
"I just try to do the best I can as see where we end up. I am just staying very open because I could set some expectations and then be disappointed."