Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen is certainly an exceptional driver, with the Dutchman seemingly being unbeatable as things stand, with him once again leading the Drivers’ Championship.
You’d be incredibly brave to bet against the 25-year-old claiming a third consecutive title, to put him alongside the likes of Niki Lauda and Ayrton Senna.
Based on the opening three rounds it does appear that the 2023 title is Verstappen’s to lose, based on the fact that he’s claimed two wins and one P2 so far this season.
As a result, he currently leads the Drivers’ Championship by 15 points, with Sergio Perez appearing to be his closest competitor.
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Verstappen has been an exceptional driver ever since he made his debut in 2015, with many having known that he was set for stardom.
His rise to the top has been meteoric, with most already viewing him as one of the greatest of all-time.
Even the GOATs, though, make mistakes sometimes, with Verstappen being none the wiser.
The Dutchman recently revealed his most embarrassing moment from his F1 career so far, with the memory dating back to the 2016 United States Grand Prix.
2016 was Verstappen’s first year as a Red Bull driver, with him having switched from the sister side to Red Bull at the Spanish Grand Prix that season.
Verstappen’s mistake on that day began when he was running in fourth behind former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, before being told by his team to ‘push’.
When a driver is told this it’s normally as an indicator to use the last of the available rubber, before diving into the pits at the end of that lap.
That’s exactly what Verstappen did ahead of his first stop at the Circuit of the Americas; however, it turned out that he wasn’t supposed to enter the pits and instead just increase his pace.
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“Then you assume that you will pit on this lap,” he told Motorsport.com, after informing what he thought being told to ‘push’ meant. “That’s why I accelerated.
“And then I drove into the pit lane. I pulled into the pit entry and suddenly realised that I wasn’t called to the pits at all. They never told me to stop. At that moment I was like, oh God, what am I doing here?
“I said on the radio: ‘Guys, I’m in the pit lane, I’m coming in, I’m coming in.’ And at that moment I saw the mechanics running out with the tires. Of course, the stop then has eight or ten seconds, which was still very fast.”