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Verstappen seeking to 'regroup' after 'unlucky' start to 2018

Max Verstappen is hoping to get his 2018 season back on track this weekend, after a string of disappointments in the first six races.

A collision with his team mate in Baku, and a costly accident in practice in Monaco have been among the setbacks for the Red Bull Racing driver.

The 20-year-old has been told he needs to change his approach and cut out the mistakes and accidents if he's to succeed in Formula 1.

While Verstappen doesn't seem to agree with that analysis, he acknowledged that the season hasn't being going to plan.

"I would not call my start to the season frustrating, but rather unlucky," he told Le Journal de Montreal this week ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

"It's heartbreaking what happened in the first part of the calendar. Now we need to try to regroup to deliver performances similar to the past two seasons.

"Consistency is one of the keys, but for the moment we don't have that," he added.

While the RB14 has proved itself adept on tight and twisting street circuits like Monaco, it could find itself off the pace in the more power-intensive circuits such as Montreal.

Verstappen looking to make up for past misfortunes in Canada

However Verstappen will head into this weekend's race knowing it can rely on an upgraded Renault engine.

"I'm sure I can expect a bit more performance," he said. "We'll have to wait for practice to see how the car will react to the changes.

"But I trust our car. If we can narrow the gap to the leading group, we can compete with the others."

A key part of that will be having a clean weekend with no mistakes. But other drivers around the paddock don't believe that Verstappen has to make alterations in his driving style to achieve that.

"Max does not have to change," insisted compatriot Jan Lammers, himself a former F1 driver. "And even if he wanted to, which is not the case, then it would not work.

"Racing is in his blood," Lammers added.

However another former F1 driver Timo Glock told Speed Week that Verstappen's slump "could keep going for the rest of the year."

"The question for him is how he will handle this negative phase," Glock added. "And how fast can he get out of the hole?"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.