Max Verstappen thinks his run of mistakes in 2018 have been a result of "wanting it too much".
Verstappen squandered an opportunity to win the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai with a messy attempt to pass Lewis Hamilton and a collision with Sebastian Vettel as Red Bull's car came alive in the closing stages. The latter earned him two penalty points on his superlicence and a 10-second time penalty which demoted him from fourth to fifth after the race.
The Dutchman, who apologised to Vettel immediately after the incident, also spun during the Australian Grand Prix and crashed out of qualifying in Bahrain, where he then collided with Hamilton during the race. Verstappen is sure his messy start to the season contributed to the Vettel collision.
"I don't think I necessarily need to change a lot of things," Verstappen said on F1's Paddock Pass programme after the Chinese Grand Prix. "I of course need to learn from what happened.
"I don't think necessarily I need to be less aggressive or anything as it has nothing to do with being overly aggressive, maybe it's just wanting too much.
"Maybe I should just, not even calm down, but maybe oversee the situation a bit more. I don't know why, I think I was quite good at that before but somehow this year, maybe with the previous two races not going your way you want to recover the points and it's working against you at the moment. Of course this is definitely not what I want. It's a life lesson."
Verstappen's messy conclusion to the race was contrasted by teammate Daniel Ricciardo's sublime charge through the field to win, which include a number of perfectly-executed overtakes. Red Bull boss Christian Horner is certain the young Dutchman will return stronger.