Max Verstappen delivers ‘do not be second Max’ advice as F1 influence grows

Max Verstappen with some fans.

Max Verstappen has urged any young racers hoping to emulate his achievements to focus on being themselves rather than copying his style.

Verstappen is a driver who is often compared to a number of former racers but if you asked him who he thinks he is most like, the answer would be himself.

That is his mantra at least and he has urged anyone looking to follow in his footsteps to focus on their own path first.

Max Verstappen movies advice to young F1 hopefuls

Verstappen is only 26 but has already developed into a role model for many young drivers hoping to make it into F1 but his number 1 advice? Be yourself.

“That is true,” he told Formule1.nl when it was put to him that a lot of young kids are Verstappen fans. “And of course that is very nice, but I especially hope that children want to be themselves. That’s how I used to be. I didn’t look up to anyone.

“I hope that maybe they get a little of that from me: always try to be and remain yourself and not try to imitate someone else.

“Of course it’s also nice to be a fan of someone or to have them think: I want to do that later too. Because success inspires. But they shouldn’t want to become a second Max.

“As a child, I only had a poster of my father hanging on the wall of my bedroom. I think my mother hung that up.”

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Verstappen also suggested he follows the same approach he always has, which is to put pressure on himself to succeed every time he gets into the car.

“To be honest, I always felt the same way,” the Red Bull driver said. “I expect myself to do well and get the most out of a race weekend. If only so that I can’t blame myself afterwards. It’s not that I’m afraid of failure and I can put things aside quite quickly. As long as you keep telling yourself: ‘Formula 1 is nice and it’s nice when you’re successful, but it’s not everything’.

“That’s important that you realise that. Sporting success does not determine my entire life, so I am quite relaxed about it. Since the first world title anyway. I’ve said it before: everything that comes after is a bonus. That approach works well.”