Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

First season opened doors for Verstappen

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Max Verstappen says his impressive first season with Toro Rosso "opens a lot of doors" for him in F1.

Having only completed one year of single seater racing in his career, Verstappen was handed a race seat by Toro Rosso and made his grand prix debut at the age of 17. The Dutch driver went on to impress with a number of spectacular performances, securing two fourth places - in Hungary and the United States - as well as earning a reputation for pulling off impressive overtaking moves.

Speaking exclusively to F1i, Verstappen says last year's experience leaves him feeling much more comfortable heading in to 2016.

“Definitely," Verstappen replied when asked if he was less nervous than a year ago. “A first good season opens up a lot of doors as well…”

With neither Red Bull driver currently confirmed beyond the end of this season, Verstappen says it his aim to move up from Toro Rosso in 2017.

“I know what is in my contract, so I’m very happy I can do another year here and then you guys will see what happens next year…

“Of course you want to move up.

“I’m very relaxed about it because I just need to do a good job. Like I said, it’s looking good for the future so that’s always a confidence boost.

“[The target is] don’t make stupid mistakes I would say and be a very regular points scorer, a very consistent driver, and fast. I think that’s what people and teams like to see in general.”

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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.