“How hard can it be?” will probably be the thought going repeatedly through the mind of Formula 1 racer Max Verstappen over the next few weeks.

The 17-year-old Torro Rosso driver will no doubt be coming out in cold sweats as he pores over the Belgian highway code manual for the umpteenth time.

At least he has the time to do it as there is now almost a month’s break between the Grand Prix calendar’s tenth round at Budapest’s Hungaroring and round 11 at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix.

In fact it all falls very nicely for Verstappen.

He came home fourth in the Hungarian Grand Prix and will prepare for both his home Grand Prix and his driving test, which he will take in September when he turns 18 – as per Belgium motoring laws.

It seems a little daft that an individual who obviously has quite advanced driving skills should have to go through the trials and tribulations of a domestic driving test – but in actuality it could be fraught with danger.

For a start there is the initial shock of cars coming in the opposite direction – and then there are the traffic lights.

Verstappen will have to differentiate between the series of lights shown on the grid and those at road junctions on domestic roads – otherwise his insurance may race through the roof before he has even passed his test.

And while I may not be best placed to hand out advice to an F1 star, I would suggest that choice of car can hold the key.

It might have been back in 1978, but I still think my own experience holds firm.

I failed my first test driving my driving instructor’s Datsun Sunny Coupe, incurring the examiner’s dissatisfaction after feeling that the car had enough acceleration to get out of a junction near the Queens Hotel in Pontefract ahead of the oncoming vehicles when perhaps patience would have definitely been the better approach.

I passed second time of asking driving a far less pokey Fiat 127 – any urge for a need for speed being totally negated.

Now I am guessing that given his day job with Torro Rosso, who run with Renault power, Verstappen might have access to a neat top of the range Captur to take his test.

However, I would suggest that employing one of Renault’s 1970-style Model 12s might effectively quell any boy racer urges young Max may get during his test.

Keeping his feet on the ground after only just missing the podium in Budapest might be the biggest test he faces, but he reacted sensibly saying: “I didn’t expect that result at all after a bit of a bad start, but I felt comfortable in the car and the guys behind me were not catching me up.”

Max went on to add: “I just managed to stay out of trouble.”

Which is probably the one thought that he needs to keep uppermost in his mind this month.