McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo has said that his old Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen has matured and has 'ironed out' his aggressive nature in recent years.

Many have had Verstappen pinned as a world champion in waiting for a few years now, owing to his strong, consistent performances for Red Bull.

Indeed, he's impressed ever since arriving on the grid as a teenager for Toro Rosso and now has the car under him to challenge for the title as he goes up against Lewis Hamilton.

In his early career in the sport, though, the Dutchman did court controversy for some aggressive moves both overtaking and defending his position, with a number of drivers taking exception to him and some even saying they'd do their best to avoid him on circuit.

hamilton verstappen

He has shown a real level of consistency to take the fight to Hamilton this year, though, and former Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo has noticed how the Dutchman has evolved and improved as an all-round driver:

“Max was under a bit of pressure in his first couple of years in F1 with some of the moves and I definitely think he has ironed a lot of that out and matured as a driver," he said.

“For sure, he will always race hard, but I think we were team-mates for three years and came together twice – that’s pretty low numbers.”