Only the “outside world” took issue with Max Verstappen over his incidents during the first races of last year, his father Jos has claimed.
The young Dutchman endured a tricky start to 2018 as he spun while trying to play catch up in Australia and then hit Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and ex-Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo in consecutive races.
At the time, it led to a barrage of criticism that Verstappen needed to tone down his approach but Jos believes it was all very over-exaggerated.
“I discuss everything with Max, including during his tough time,” the ex-Benetton driver told his son’s website. “I don’t think there was anything wrong. It was really the outside world that made a problem out of things.
“Maybe the conversation after Monaco was hard but if you see how he picked it up from there and how he starts this year, it’s perfect.”
The weekend in Monte Carlo was seen as the turning point in the 21-year-old’s season, after a crash in final practice cost him any chance of the victory which was achieved by Ricciardo.
In fact, Max would go on to take 10 podiums after that race, including two wins in Austria and Mexico.
“He was indeed very strong, but he always had to take risks to get the result,” added Jos. “If you must take risks, then anything can happen. That’s why it’s easier to start from the front row, so you don’t have to take risks.
“But he’s done really well and when it comes to overtaking, Max is the best.”
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Verstappen Sr. also continues to follow the Red Bull driver around the calendar and explained just what he does in that role.
“It’ll be the same as before. I don’t have to be here all the time to tell him what to do; he knows that better than me,” he said.
“But it’s the small things. I don’t tell him what to do, but I talk to him about what I see. That’s more than enough.”
