Huge race drama
Verstappen youngest Grand Prix victor after Hamilton, Rosberg crash out in first lap
DUTCH teenager Max Verstappen made Formula One history as the youngest race winner in a sensational Spanish Grand Prix yesterday that saw dominant Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide and crash out on the opening lap.
Verstappen, only 18 and making his debut for Red Bull after being promoted from junior team Toro Rosso a week earlier, beat Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen – at 36 twice his age – by 0.616 seconds.
Verstappen was also the youngest driver on the podium and the first Dutch race winner since the championship started in 1950.
His proud father Jos, who was twice on the podium with Benetton as Michael Schumacher’s teammate in 1994 and raced against Raikkonen later in his career, called it the best day of his life.
“This is really something unbelievably special,” he said while others acclaimed an exceptional talent.
Four times world champion Sebastian Vettel, the previous youngest race winner thanks to his astonishing 2008 Italian Grand Prix victory for Toro Rosso at the age of 21, was third for Ferrari.
Rosberg had his lead cut to 39 points. Raikkonen went up to second ahead of Hamilton.
The German’s dream of an eighth successive win, and fifth of the season, had disappeared in the gravel on the opening lap as he and reigning champion Hamilton crashed out while battling for the lead.
That looked like being the talking point of the day at a circuit that has seen processional races in the past, until Verstappen rewrote the script.
His was a remarkably assured performance for a youngster who could not drive on public roads until last year and whose precocious entry into the sport was questioned by many. “I was targeting a podium, but to win straight away is an amazing feeling,” he said.
He had qualified fourth with Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo third.
Ricciardo might have joined him on the podium but a late puncture left him fourth.
“I can’t ever remember seeing a debut performance like that,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horners gushed, with the energy drink brand’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz also in attendance.
“Max hasn’t put a wheel wrong all weekend. To win the race, I don’t think anyone can have dreamed of that.”
Verstappen soaked up the moment, lingering on the podium after the Ferrari drivers had gone and holding the winner’s trophy aloft.
While Red Bull celebrated, and Ferrari rescued a race that had looked like being one to forget after Raikkonen and Vettel qualified fifth and sixth, Mercedes were licking their wounds.
