Christian Horner has praised a crucial change in maturity from Max Verstappen after the Red Bull driver's solid, if unspectacular, start to the 2019 season. Verstappen took third place in Australia, overtaking Sebastian Vettel, but has since settled for fourth in Bahrain and China.
Verstappen dropped points in all three races last year, spinning behind the Haas of Kevin Magnussen in Melbourne and crashing with both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in China to drop out of a potential winning position, having suffered a DNF in Bahrain after crashing in qualifying.
Continued incidents effectively ended any title hopes Verstappen may have had after just a handful of races, but he is third in the championship heading to Azerbaijan this weekend and Horner says the 21-year-old has played it perfectly.
"I think he has been very mature about it," Horner said.
"He has driven three strong Grands Prix so far this year and was obviously unlucky not to be on the podium in Bahrain and had a go at Sebastian [in China] after the pit stop. He drove a very mature race to bring it home fourth.