While he might not want to admit it, Max Verstappen has had to tweak his approach to racing following the plethora of incidents earlier in the year, according to Red Bull's Helmut Marko.

The young Dutchman made mistakes in the first four races of the season, three of which included collisions with the current top three in the championship, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

The last straw for Red Bull bosses appeared to come in Monaco, however, when a crash in final practice meant he missed out on qualifying and cost the team the chance at a 1-2 in the race.

Since then, he has been the Verstappen of old, beating his teammate comfortably in Canada and France and scoring podiums in both races.

“The problem was that Max put too much pressure on himself," Marko claimed, talking to Motorsport.com.

“Suddenly he made mistakes with a car he could drive at the front, which he did not make last year when his car was far from so good."

The Austrian believes the crash in Monaco, which came at the second part of the Swimming Pool complex on Saturday morning was the best example.

"What he needs to learn: you won't win a championship just because you're ahead in every practice session,” he stated. “On the other hand, we're glad he's so unruly.

“It's easier to get him [to calm] down than to build a not so fast or aggressive driver in that direction."

Following his result at the next race in Montreal, where he was arguably the driver of the weekend despite finishing third, many pondered if the lack of entourage, including his father and ex-Benetton driver Jos Verstappen, had helped focus the 20-year-old.

“We've been through all variations: how can we stabilise Max?" Marko admitted.

“It was more a coincidence than a programmed action that nobody was there in Montreal, but this is the Max we're expecting now. France was a great weekend without any mistakes.”

During that time though, some wondered how Red Bull, a team that became famous for how it cut drivers, particularly in the case of Daniil Kvyat, was being so lenient on Verstappen.

“The aggressiveness and the fighting spirit make him stand out, that's why I always defended him.” Marko, the man at the helm of the young driver program, said.

He also pointed to the unique situation, Max is in.

“In Austria, he will be joined by 18,000 Dutchmen - probably even more after the second place in France,” he said.

“He has a cult status in his home country and Belgium. Dealing with this at the age of 20 is not quite so easy.”