Verstappen needs to learn from 'good teacher' Ricciardo

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has said that if Max Verstappen wants to improve his poor start to the current season, he need look no further than his current driving partner, branding Daniel Ricciardo a 'good teacher', adding that Verstappen has 'an abundance of talent'.

The Dutchman has endured a miserable start to the current campaign, with particular lowlights being his reckless crash during FP3 at Monaco, and also his smash with colleague Ricciardo in Azerbaijan which put both men out of the race.

There have been calls from more experienced drivers, such as former F1 champion Nico Rosberg, for Verstappen to truly reassess his approach to the races and Horner reckons he could do worse than learn from the man he regularly competes alongside.

He told F1.com: "He has a very good teacher in the car next door to him. Max has an abundance of talent and had some harsh lessons this year and I think a modified approach will benefit him. Monaco was very painful for him.

“He’s very aware. We talk weekly. Of course what frustrates him is that he’s working harder than ever, feels fitter than ever and it feels like he’s just trying a bit too hard at the moment."

Horner added that he feels Verstappen is currently trying too hard to make amends for the mistakes he has made so far this year, and that he needs to 'reset' his approach in order to rediscover his best form from last year.

He added: "When you get into a spiral and try harder I think you just need to hit the reset button.

“Max arrived in F1 very quickly so he is doing his learning in a very public arena and is in a front running car very quickly.

“Most guys would have gone through some of this in the lower formulas that you wouldn’t have even seen, whereas he is having to deal with it in a very public arena. I’m sure he will emerge from it on the other side.”