Max Verstappen is establishing himself as a future Formula 1 champion but still lacks one key asset compared to Lewis Hamilton.
That is the claim of Aldo Costa, the outgoing engineering director at Mercedes, who reflected on another successful year for the German manufacturer winning both titles.
The Dutchman was arguably the second best driver to Hamilton for much of 2018, finishing behind the eventual world champion in the points collected over the second half of the season after struggling early on.
That, however, just goes to what was Costa's main point to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"He's a talent, he's fast but he still has to grow consistency, which has been the winning weapon of Hamilton," he said, "He himself said he has experienced his best season in F1.
"But we have been able to bring in the second part of the season, race after race, effective developments," Costa continued turning to Mercedes.
"Certainly it was not a perfect year. We struggled to understand the tyres and in this case, Red Bull was better than us. Even the reliability was good but not exceptional."
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Looking ahead, Costa also admits to a little nervousness over the new aerodynamic regulations coming in 2019 and the impact they could have.
"Ferrari will obviously be there to fight with us and then I expect Red Bull, considering that they speak so well of the new Honda engine," he said of the likely pecking order. "But then there is Renault, Sauber, Haas.
"The new rules could change a bit the balance, it could favour some and harm others.
"We will do our best to conquer another title: we have drawn level with Ferrari in terms of consecutive Drivers' titles but now we have to reach them in the Constructors'."
