Verstappen gave rookie last-minute advice: 'He looked a bit surprised'

"I speak to Gabi of course quite a lot. He's a very nice guy, he's a great driver and obviously I really like his approach. He's just a hard worker and he's very passionate about Formula 1," Verstappen said about the rookie and last year's Formula 2 champion, after he was asked about how he helped the youngster ahead of the season-opening Grand Prix. The two have previously also streamed racing against each other in the sim as well.

Bortoleto came to Verstappen for last-minute advice

Verstappen underlined that he is not someone who would hide any information, and therefore was happy to help Bortoleto. "After the national anthem he came to me and said, ‘Max, so what are you going to do?’ ‘I said, put inters.’  He's like, ‘really?’ I said,’yeah, put inters. It's fine.’ And I said, ‘ if you're not really sure, just ask the team maybe to do something with the tyres, but inters’. He said: ‘Okay.’"

The Dutchman also understands why a rookie would have such questions, especially in such conditions. "It’s normal. I mean, it's your first race, it's always very stressful and quite intimidating. Most difficult conditions, I think, also to start in. And yes, whenever he asks questions, I will always answer them," he continued.

Did Verstappen have someone to help him when he was in Bortoleto's shoes, starting out in F1? "Different times, I guess also. I think also with all the things around, like, platforms that you use in sim racing and stuff. They have grown a lot over the years. I think that just helps a lot as well. So, I mean, I'm pretty sure there were drivers around I just didn't ask at the time, because I just didn't get to see them or whatever."

This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder

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