Max Verstappen is really enjoying his holiday at the moment. Last weekend, he had his last working day of the year, with a demonstration by his Red Bull Racing team in Milton Keynes. It was also the last moment for media to conduct interviews with the two-time champion.

Also NBC was allowed to exchange views with Verstappen. Now that the Dutchman has some time to himself, no longer on the road almost daily, the broadcaster was keen to look back at the beginning of his career at Red Bull. The wins are in quick succession at the moment, but once Verstappen too won his first Grand Prix. At the age of 18 - during his first race for Red Bull - he was immediately fastest in Spain.

A lot of pressure

Reflecting on what Verstappen did that day in Barcelona, he hardly ever does, he admits. "There was a lot of pressure throughout that weekend. People were not happy that I was promoted. In the car I had never driven before, so I had to get to know it. Christian said beforehand: 'Have fun'. I definitely had fun, but also a lot of pressure because of the two-stopper. The tyres wore out a lot and in the last laps I had little grip. Afterwards, I had a lot of cramp because my seat wasn't right yet. It was a crazy weekend. "

With the current super-licence system, Verstappen would never have been able to enter that Grand Prix. Undoubtedly, at such a young age, he would not have managed to accumulate enough points for a licence. The super licence caused Colton Herta frustration earlier this year. Despite being a winner in IndyCar, he did not get a licence to transfer to AlphaTauri.

" I don't always agree with it," Verstappen says of the system. "When there are very big talents, they don't always need three years to accumulate points. It's painful if you don't get a chance to go to Formula 1 because of that."