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Max Verstappen voiced his opinion on the criticism of his driving style, saying it did affect him. It was his learning curve, however, that made him the driver he is today.
Speaking to Will Buxton on F1’s official channel, the 2021 world champion shared his anecdotes on how he learned to cope with failures.
Describing the emotional side of facing criticism, Verstappen said:
“It's difficult, of course. Sometimes it hurts. It needs to hurt sometimes, that's what my dad always said, you know. Specially when I was still racing in go-karts in national championships, I had a lot of wins, and I didn’t know what losing was like, and my dad was like well one day you will learn and it will hurt.”
According to the Red Bull F1 team’s newly crowned champion, criticism and failures have been part of his growing curve, at the core of who he is as a sporting talent. Verstappen believes he learned from his experiences of failures and adversity in his career from his karting championship years.
Max Verstappen believes it is necessary to face failure to become a better driver
Crowned the first Dutch F1 world champion, Max Verstappen found the failures were many, in a sport that was dominated by one team over a long period, which only resulted in catalyzing his growth as a driver.
Expressing his views on failures in his career, the Dutchman said:
“So of course that day came where I didn’t win and I was crying because I hate losing and of course I think that is a good mentality. But you also analyze and understand why that is and you should also, of course, then be grateful and respectful to the guy who beat you... But yeah these moments where you're in tough times, like for me, also 2018 in the beginning of the year, was really tough. But you need those moments to become a better driver.”
While his title has been clouded by controversy over the final lap drama at Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen's merits as a race driver and title contender go unquestioned after the 2021 season.
