Verstappen a 'racing nerd', says Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo

Ricciardo has been impressed by Verstappen's approach for an 18-year-old following his arrival at the team in May after being promoted from Toro Rosso in favour of Daniil Kvyat.

"It's not nice getting beaten by someone young," Ricciardo told Autosport.

"I definitely see it now, he is young, but in racing terms he is very experienced.

"Racing has been his whole life, from what I understand, and although he may still have a lot to learn, for his age, he has plenty of racing experience.

"Even the way when he's in engineering briefings and talking about some details on the car, I don't even know what they are.

"He's a bit of a racing nerd, I guess!"

In terms of head-to-head, Ricciardo has so far had the edge in qualifying by a 7-1 scoreline, but Verstappen has scored 102 points to the Australian's 97 over their eight grands prix together.

Ricciardo, a three-time grand prix winner, believes Verstappen's arrival has made him raise his own game.

"There's an argument I am now going beyond a level I thought was there," he said.

"With Dani [Kvyat] I always felt I was on top and just doing as much as I could, but then Max came in.

"It's a tough one because I always like to think I am pushing myself to my limit, but the human body is interesting, so maybe there is always more.

"I definitely feel I have driven well from the start of the season, but perhaps we've both really pushed each other."

Ricciardo believes that as well as raising his game against Verstappen, he has learned from experience in other areas as well.

"Sometimes you can go into a race and expect too much from it, which is always a bad thing," he added.

"For example you may think you expect to be first into Turn 1, or whatever, and it doesn't go your way and you're fourth, then you are already on the back foot.

"You might then lose momentum for a few laps, or it will take you that long to clear your mind.

"With every driver, if you lock a brake in one corner, you are probably thinking about it at the next corner, so little things like that can always be improved.

"As a rookie that was maybe a weakness, not being able to get rid of the mistake quickly enough."