Max Verstappen says the consequences of a young driver's mistakes in F1 are less impacting than those a young charger may face in the junior ranks of the sport.
Verstappen enjoyed a stunning rise up the ladder, graduating to F1 with Toro Rosso in 2015 at just 17 and winning his first Grand Prix a year later with Red Bull Racing.
However, the Dutchman's outstanding progress in F1 wasn't exempt of mistakes or criticism from his peers. The faults proved inconsequential for his career although they did provide a learning opportunity.
"I only had one year of F3 experience, and of course you make some mistakes in Formula 1 which maybe other people did in juniors or whatever," Verstappen told RACER.
"But for me that’s fine. I prefer to be at the highest level and make the mistakes and learn from it, instead of being in the lower categories and then maybe some mistakes then can cost you your career in Formula 1."
Verstappen has obviously matured during his five years in F1, both as a driver and as an individual. But the 21-year-old feels that his working relationship with his team hasn't changed over the years.
"For me not much has changed because for me the feedback I was giving already last year was the same as I’m doing now," he said.
"If it would be different then for sure I would be doing a bad job last year, that’s how I always approach it.
"Personally, I always feel like I can feel what the car is doing. For my age anyway, I’m very experienced at that because of working with my dad from a very young age, trying to give good feedback.
"So I never felt like it was a big pressure or anything to maybe step it up a bit within the team, because I felt like I was already giving the right information."
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