Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Verstappen in no hurry to secure top drive

Max Verstappen says he is not in a hurry to move to a top team as he still feels he has a lot to learn with Toro Rosso.

The Red Bull junior driver has had an impressive rookie season, finishing fourth in both Hungary and Russia and currently sitting tenth in the drivers' championship. With Ferrari linked with a future move for Verstappen, the 18-year-old was asked how keen he is to drive for a top team but says he is not impatient.

"I’m never in a hurry but, of course, if you have two fourth places you’re very close to the podium, you want to be on it," Verstappen said. "But I still have a lot of things to learn and I’m pretty happy where I am right now – but hopefully in a couple of years I can fight for victories. I think everybody wants that."

And Verstappen believes the rate of improvement he has shown throughout his rookie season so far is unlikely to slow down any time soon.

"I think in every area I improved. Especially after only one season in lower categories, when you make the jump to F1, I think the raw speed is there, it’s just you need to develop in all the other areas – and I think I coped with that pretty well. So I’m pretty happy with how the whole season went in general.

"I improved in everything. Qualifying I think especially, that’s all going well now but all the areas, especially with the help of the team, it’s going much better and I expected it to be like that because I am still very young and I have a lot of things to learn."

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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.