Max Verstappen has revealed how long he hopes to remain on the Formula 1 grid.
The sport’s youngest ever driver in the midst of his fifth season, growing from teenager to the lead driver at Red Bull.
Looking forward, more wins and eventually championships are the obvious goals, and he is giving himself plenty of time to achieve them.
“So I’m 21 now. I hope I’ll be in F1 another 15 years. Yeah, until I’m 36,” he told Motorsport Magazine.
“You also have to remember that I started when I was 17, so a bit earlier than some. I guess it depends also on how competitive you still are at 36. If you’re still in a championship-winning car, fighting for podiums, then yes.
“Obviously I’m not going to drive at the back. If you’ve achieved victories and podiums, when I’m 36 I’m not going to stay here just to drive last. That’s for sure.”
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Already considered by many as one of the top drivers on the F1 grid, Verstappen hopes to only get stronger as his career progresses.
“Hopefully it’s just natural. I think you can always improve as a driver,” he said.
“But mainly nowadays in F1 when you’re in there for five years, it has to do with experience, what you experience through the whole year rather than purely driving. It’s more about just putting the pieces together by experience.”
As the next generation of stars breakthrough, expectations are that the Red Bull driver will become the next poster boy for F1, much like Hamilton is now.
In fact, it could be argued that Max already is given the swathes of orange at many races, even leading to the return of the Dutch Grand Prix next year.
And his team boss Christian Horner recently offered an explanation as to how the 21-year-old has captured so many fans so quickly.
“If you look at his performances this year, he is giving everything, every single lap. In his fifth year of F1, he has become complete. In the last 12 months, he has got maturity as well,” he told The Guardian.
“The way he handles pressure has been extremely impressive. He’s passionate, that’s part of the reason people warm to him. He’s not afraid to say it as it is.
“Is that a bad thing? I’d rather have a driver like that, that has that passion, has fire in his belly – you can channel that,” he stated.
So far in 2019, Verstappen has used that to claim two victories and sit third in the Drivers’ standings, just seven points behind Valtteri Bottas.
“It’s pretty good, but it could always be better,” he told the Red Bull website. “Of course we want to win more races.
“I think in most of the races we have maximised the results and I felt happy in the car. We’ve improved the car and Honda improved their engine.
“We had a bit more of a difficult start than I think we would have liked, car-wise, but to then score two victories has been good.
“I was especially happy for Honda to win that race [in Austria],” he noted. “Any win is great, but for them it was emotional and I was happy that it was at our home track in Austria.
“And my first pole position will always be a special one. A qualifying lap on low fuel is so enjoyable, you can really feel the grip of the car with the full downforce.
“It was another great day for everyone within the team, but that team also includes Honda.”