Max Verstappen urges 17-year-old Mercedes prodigy Kimi Antonelli to ‘make mistakes’ amidst F1 debut rumors

Max Verstappen highlighted that a driver should get over such mistakes when they’re not fighting for the world title. The Dutch driver recalled his first season at the Red Bull sister team, Toro Rosso (now RB). As the three-time world champion did not face immense pressure to perform at the midfield team. Kimi Antonelli is rumored to potentially replace Williams’ Logan Sargeant mid-way through this season.

Ideally you want to make these mistakes when you are not fighting for championships, so I got lucky starting at Toro Rosso where not so many people are looking at you. Max Verstappen stated

Max Verstappen claims mistakes only way to ‘adapt’ and move forward in F1

Further, Verstappen reckoned that there was room for young drivers to make some silly errors despite the self-imposed pressure to perform. The reigning world champion claimed that someone like Kimi Antonelli can only adapt and move forward in the sport after learning from mistakes on-track.

So you can make some silly mistakes here... You will only adapt really if you make them and then move forward. Max Verstappen asserted

Lastly, Max Verstappen claimed that it was important for Antonelli to simply focus on going as fast as possible. Moreover, the Dutchman reckoned that Kimi Antonelli should try to achieve good results and not think about his mistakes in the meantime.

When you are that young, you just focus on trying to go as fast as you can, make your mistakes and have good race results and try not to think too much about it. Max Verstappen noted

Certainly, Max Verstappen has been in a similar position to Antonelli. As such, the Dutch driver truly understands how the Italian driver would be feeling amidst rumors of an F1 debut. However, it remains to be seen if Kimi Antonelli gets a short stint with Williams before making his way to Mercedes in the pinnacle of motorsport.