Horner: Verstappen was impatient in China, but will learn

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hopes Max Verstappen will learn from an error-strewn start to the 2018 Formula 1 season, which came to a head at the Chinese Grand Prix as he wrecked both his and Sebastian Vettel's races with an overzealous passing manoeuvre.

Verstappen was arguably in position to take the victory which team-mate Daniel Ricciardo ultimately celebrated, but botched overtakes on Lewis Hamilton and Vettel left him counting a fifth-place finish.

A spin in Australia dropped more points before his Bahrain Grand Prix was ended early after a collision with Hamilton, but Horner says Verstappen's ability remain undimmed.

"His talent is extremely obvious, his bravery and racing instinct is not in doubt," Horner said.

"He was too impatient. He will have for sure learned from that. I have no doubt of that."

Verstappen once again said he saw no reason to alter his methods but when asked if it would "sink in" over the need to make a change, Horner replied: "It will. I'm fully confident that he's a phenomenal talent and he's smart enough to recognise areas that he needs to work on and I have no doubt that he will address it. We've already discussed it."

Horner drew parallels between Verstappen and the early years of Vettel's career, in which he caught similar flak over a number of on-track incidents before becoming a four-time world champion.

"I was talking with him after the race, he put his hand up, he's apologised to Sebastian," Horner added.

"He did that immediately as they got out of the cars. Sebastian and I spoke with after the race and he appreciated Max had apologised to him.

"Yes, he's made some mistakes but I remember when we had Sebastian at a similar stage of his career, it wasn't uncommon that he also made some mistakes.

"He will have learned an awful lot from today and put that to good use in the coming races because we have a very quick car as we've demonstrated today."