Max Verstappen says that although he is in no hurry to get a seat with one of the top Formula 1 teams, he is keen to be fighting for race wins in a couple of years’ time.
Verstappen, 18, became the youngest driver in the history of F1 when he made his debut in Australia at the beginning of the season.
However, his age has not been a sign of inexperience as he has made an enormous impact in his rookie season thanks to a string of impressive on-track displays.
As a result, Verstappen has already been linked with a move up the grid for 2017 when his Toro Rosso contract ends to either Ferrari or parent team Red Bull.
For the time being though, Verstappen remains happy at Toro Rosso, explaining on Thursday in Brazil that he is not looking to rush into a top F1 seat.
“I’m never in a hurry but, of course, if you have two fourth places you’re very close to the podium, you want to be on it,” Verstappen said.
“But I still have a lot of things to learn and I’m pretty happy where I am right now – but hopefully in a couple of years I can fight for victories. I think everybody wants that.”
Verstappen’s suitability for F1 was questioned in the months leading up to his debut given that he had completed just one full season in single seater cars.
Although he has proven himself to be more than capable, he feels that he has developed an enormous amount across the course of his first F1 season.
“I think in every area I improved,” Verstappen said. “Especially after only one season in lower categories, when you make the jump to F1, I think the raw speed is there, it’s just you need to develop in all the other areas – and I think I coped with that pretty well.
“So I’m pretty happy with how the whole season went in general. I improved in everything. Qualifying I think especially, that’s all going well now but all the areas, especially with the help of the team, it’s going much better and I expected it to be like that because I am still very young and I have a lot of things to learn.”
