Max Verstappen: “You have to be honest with yourself that is most important"

Max Verstappen is preparing to enter his fifth Formula 1 season. At the age of just 21, the Dutchman will race in his 100th Grand Prix in 2019. He'll be hoping for a better start to the season than what he experienced in 2018.

And it was this bad start which gave Verstappen is "Mad Max" tag. But speaking to The Guardian ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen is grounded and is attempting to stay true to himself. A piece of advice he picked up from his father, Jos Verstappen.

"You have to stay honest with yourself, that's the most important thing. I learned it from my dad. He was always very hard on me but in a fair way. When I was seven or eight I was already taking it seriously," he said.

"When other competitors were playing football in the paddock, I was working with my dad to try and get the best out of it. At the time I thought: ‘Should I really be like this? Should it be the way I am working?’ But I am really happy we did."

Also interesting: Coronel believes Ricciardo left because he couldn't beat Verstappen.