"Hamilton & Vettel take Verstappen really seriously now"

In an interview with Formule 1, Dutch expert pundit Olav Mol has said that the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel take Max Verstappen very seriously now, compared to a few years ago when the Dutchman wasn't on their radar yet.

Before the season started, there were rumblings that Red Bull had finally built a winning car, but the RB14 has certainly not lived up to that hype. Sure, Daniel Ricciardo won the China Grand Prix, but the RB14 certainly isn't the quickest car of the field.

Mol, however, thinks that Red Bull have thrown away over fifty points because of silly mistakes.

"A Red Bull on top level should have had fifty or sixty more points by now," he explains.

"Especially if you look at the performances in Bahrain and Azerbaijan.

"There's a lot of criticism about Verstappen, but I think he's learned more already than in the last two years combined.

"He's certainly dropped 37 points this season."

The Dutch reporter also claims that Verstappen's peers look at him differently now than they used to.

"When he drove for Toro Rosso, the top drivers weren't worried about him yet.

"Now, he gets taken very seriously by world champions like Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel."