Max Verstappen has drawn on his own experience to advise Andrea Kimi Antonelli to not be worried about committing mistakes when he makes his Formula 1 debut.
Verstappen had completed a single season in cars in Formula 3 when he was elevated into the top flight at 17 with Red Bull’s sister outfit, then known as Toro Rosso.
The Dutchman proved that he had the speed to belong as he was promoted to the senior Red Bull team in his sophomore season in 2016 and won his maiden outing.
But Verstappen’s no-nonsense racing approach earned criticism from more seasoned rivals and prompted debates about whether his accelerated rise was premature.
Antonelli could be placed in a similar predicament as the protege has been dovetailing his opening Formula 2 campaign with a rigorous Mercedes testing programme.
The Italian, 17, is considered the leading candidate to take the Mercedes drive that will become vacant next term when Lewis Hamilton completes his move to Ferrari.
Providing that he is handed the coveted spot alongside George Russell in 2025, Verstappen has told Antonelli to ignore outside noise and be prepared to make errors.
“Well, hopefully nothing too intimidating, but, you know, you’re such a rookie, you know, that there’s so many things that you still have to learn,” Verstappen said.
“I mean, for me personally, the biggest one was actually doing a full race distance, you know. Like, in F3 at the time, you know, you did 35-minute races.
“So, you know, there’s a lot more involved. Looking after your tyres is a big part of it. You know, these tyres are so particular and sensitive compared to some other categories.
“Of course, in F2, F3, you’re running on Pirellis already. But for me at the time, that wasn’t the case.
“But yeah, just, you know, going through the good moments, the bad moments, how you come out of these things, difficult weekends, where it’s just not working for you or whatever.
“Like, there’s so much to learn. But on the other hand, also, don’t try to think about it too much. Just let it go.
“When you’re talented – and you can see that with Kimi, he’s very talented – I don’t think you should be too worried, you know, just… make mistakes.
“I mean you have to make mistakes. Ideally, of course, you like to make those mistakes when you’re not fighting for championships or whatever, so I also got lucky with that, you know, starting at Toro Rosso at the time, not many people are looking at you all the time, so you can make some silly mistakes here and there.
“But it’s important to make them because even though you tell yourself all the time I cannot do this or I cannot do that, you will only adapt really if you make them and then move forward.”
Verstappen, who has since gone on to take three titles and 59 wins, also believes that being in the right environment is essential to a driver who is learning their trade.
“And yeah, just in general, growing up as a person as well, I guess, even outside the car, knowing what you want in your private life,” he added.
“And then it’s just understanding the set-up of a racing car more and more over time.
“Of course cars evolve, but when you’re with one particular team, at one point you know more or less what works or not.
“Being with the same kind of race engineers and people around you that fine-tune the car for you, all these kind of things, the more you spend time with them, the more it comes to you.
“But again, don’t try to think about it too much, just let it happen.
“When you’re that young, just focus on trying to go as fast as you can, make your mistakes, you know, have good race results and just, yeah. Well, try not to think about it too much.
“Now you can explain all of this, but at the time you don’t know that, right?
“So it’s like, just ease into it. And then you have good people around you normally in the team that will coach you around this.”
