Interesting observation by young Max Verstappen

I find this an interesting observation by this kid.. I wonder how he is going to feel about that statement when he gets a bit of roughing up by the hardened players.

F1: Verstappen: Mental strength ‘bulls**t’

Max Verstappen says he is ignoring any talk about his mental strength ahead of his F1 debut in 2015 as he feels it is “bulls**t”.

With Daniil Kvyat moving to Red Bull and Verstappen himself already having taken Jean-Eric Vergne's seat, Verstappen is likely to form part of an inexperienced driver line-up at Toro Rosso next season. However, the 17-year-old says he isn't expecting the challenge to be a tough one mentally as it's not an area he gives much credit to.

“I have no problems at all with [mental strength]!” Verstappen told the Toro Rosso website. “I'm really relaxed and I don't want to think about mental stress, or how strong you are mentally because, to be honest, I find it a bit bulls**t.”

And Verstappen says he takes confidence ahead of his step up to F1 from how quickly he got up to speed in an F3 car this season.

“Of course before you jump in the car you don't know what to expect. But after I did a few laps [in the F3 car], I started to feel comfortable. You start to feel the limits a bit. It's completely different to go karts. I mean, the braking pedal, the throttle application, how you sit in the car, the view. That was the main difference really. But from the beginning we were quite fast, so I adapted quite well.”

 

I think the bullshit is already effecting him more than he knows and he is going to need some of that mental strength to fight the media bitch slapping thats coming his way if he does something silly.

 

“I have no problems at all with [mental strength]!” Verstappen told the Toro Rosso website. “I'm really relaxed"

Is there anyone who has said this that didn't mean the opposite?

 

He'll find out sooner or later if he gets into the position of challenging for a title, or driving to save his seat, that's when it shows, it's why Ricciardo was raised over Vergne, who probably would've won on points if he hadn't been subjected to such poor luck, but really faded away once they were told they were racing for the RBR seat and the pressure mounted.

 

What a reasoned response by the young man. It just sounds like he is under pressure all ready.

 

Every other racer in the history of the sport has had to dig deep down into mental strength before now..wither fighting for championships or fighting to keep their seat in a team... ask Massa, JEV and others. Check Alonso and Vettel a few years ago and Rosberg and Hamilton this year. Well maybe this young guy is a one of a kind. But all the greats were under mental pressure at one point or another....Senna and Prost. Maybe he is way too young to understand what that is like.

 

Agreed. I think he's that young and inexperienced, it genuinely is "bullsh*t" to him purely because he hasn't experienced it properly yet. I suspect that comment will bite him on the backside when it arrives, and it will.

I think his comments are immature and prove he is too young.

 

Going to give him the benefit of the doubt and just judge how he performs on track. I mean, even if he was concerned about the mental challenge of F1, he's not going to tell the world about it.

 

Yes, but dont say it's bullshit..just say..I will deal with that when the time comes???

 

He may well be fine on-track but he's going to need more mental strength to deal with the media pressure, clearly. I expect it's easy for a seasoned journalist to get him to say cocky things or make his words seem this way. He's 17.