Andrew Benson, the BBC F1 correspondent, a few weeks ago gave his thoughts on Max Verstappen. In a nutshell, Verstappen is naturally fast but makes far too many mistakes to be considered a world champion in the making. Verstappen is now in his third season of F1. Benson also pointed out that Michael Schumacher was world champion within three years.

What Benson didn’t point out was that Max Verstappen is still only 20 years old. Schumacher was 24-25 by the time he wrapped up his first championship. To be fair, Max Verstappen has exhibited maturity since he entered Formula 1 at the tender age of 17. He has won 4 races and can now be considered a seasoned professional. He has to be exceptional to do what he has achieved and to remain at Red Bull F1. No one person is more important than Red Bull the corporation. If a driver doesn’t meet the required high standard then they are out. Red Bull F1 don’t do normal if Max Verstappen exhibited the slightest weakness he would probably be selling Tulips in Amsterdam. But are driver errors and belligerence a sign of weakness? Despite the mistakes, and the belligerent attitude, Verstappen’s pure and natural speed his ability to deliver as consistently as he makes mistakes make him virtually untouchable. However, because Verstappen is 20 years old in many ways, he hasn’t grown out of the ‘invincibility’ mode of youth. Many 20-year-olds are naturally ‘invincible’ but it wears out at around 22. So Max will continue to make the sort of deliberate mistakes he made at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix. Verstappen picked up a time penalty for moving under braking as Valterri Bottas tried a move into turn1. The move was stupid, unnecessary and costly. Verstappen could have held on for a podium. But all was fine because the race stewards gave him a time penalty. Justice was served. Moving under braking while defending against an opponent on track is a Max Verstappen specialty. But it was Verstappen’s denial of doing anything wrong that was unsurprising as it was idiotic. No one can or should defend Verstappen’s shove into Bottas, which is what it was. Except maybe Sir Jackie Stweart who thinks Verstappen is great and Lewis Hamilton is a “little ballerina“. The incident on lap 43 of the Italian Grand Prix sums up Verstappen’s ‘lizard brain’ approach to racing. It is also the pinnacle of everything wrong with Verstappen’s driving philosophy. Verstappen has made a lot of mistakes this year. But he makes up for it, he is fast, and he has had a period where he kept his head down, got on with the job and delivered a haul of points. But moving under braking and shoving your opponent off the track is not the best display of racing etiquette. Although Sir Jackie Stewart might say otherwise. Red Bull F1 has got to start telling Verstappen to improve his racing etiquette because it cost them a podium at the Italian Grand Prix. What happens if Red Bull F1 Honda develop a competitive car for 2019? Verstappen cannot afford to use the same ‘lizard brain’ defensive measures when under pressure during a Grand Prix. We can not tell Red Bull F1 what to do just as much as they can’t tell us to stop writing deliberately click-bait headlines. (they don’t read this so it doesn’t matter) If any other Red Bull F1 driver exhibited the same ‘lizard brain’ mentality then the team management would act. They wanted to get rid of Hartley because of a string of errors early on. They, Red Bull F1, looked in the other direction when Max was at the center of many storms. The double standards on display is almost comical, to say the least. What is the point of introducing safety measures when drivers are shoving one another off the track? Verstappen needs stop it with the spoiled brat denials and let his driving do the talking. And apologise when he attempts to barrel roll his opponent off the track.