Max Verstappen has just turned 18, has just 18 F1 races under his belt but conducts himself both on and off the track almost like a seasoned veteran of the sport.

The teen known as ‘Mad Max’ is the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen and the youngest ever to race in the history of the sport, making his debut aged at the Australian Grand Prix aged just 17 years and 166 days.

But as the novelty value surrounding his age is slowly diminishing, there is a growing sense of awe over his driving skills.

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The Toro Rosso driver has already carved a name for himself and is currently 12th in the drivers’ standings with 49 points.

Verstappen finished fourth in Hungary and USA, but even more impressive has been the quality and consistency of his driving and especially his overtaking skills.

What’s been most eye-catching about the Dutchman’s debut campaign is how few mistakes he has made during the year, while his passing of Force India’s Sergio Perez and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr through the Senna ‘S’ in Interlagos has been hailed as two of the classiest moves of the season.

It’s a measure of the young man’s confidence that when asked about the biggest challenge he had to face during the year, the usually quick-witted Verstappen had to think for a considerable while to search for an answer before delivering a somewhat surprisingly understated and mature response.

“To work with the tyres…to find out how to drive them. That was much different to what I was used to. So definitely the knowing the tyres was the biggest challenge,” he said.

Verstappen is tied along with Romain Grosjean of Lotus on 49 points and just three behind Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

A good race on Sunday in Abu Dhabi could deliver him a top-10 finish in the driver’s standings. But tell him that and the retort is instant.

“It doesn’t really make a huge difference for me. If you are fighting for the title, yes, that’s a different matter, but 10th, 11th or 12th doesn’t make a huge difference to me,” he added.

“But yes, if you ask me, I would say that I have exceeded my expectations. I have more points than I expected. So yes, this year has been better than I thought, and that is pretty cool.”