Max Verstappen stuns in Madrid to become youngest F1 winner

Max Verstappen gets some added sparkle as his astonishing feat of winning in his first outing for the Red Bull team is celebrated. Picture: Getty Images

The 18-year-old Verstappen drove like a veteran to secure the victory after fending off a late challenge by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who not long ago was racing against Verstappen’s father, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen.

“It feels amazing. I can’t believe it,” Verstappen said. “To win straight away in my first race with Red Bull is incredible.”

The spectacular victory – the first ever by a Dutchman in F1 – comes with Verstappen nearly three years younger than the previous youngest winner, Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 when he won for the first time.

Vettel, now 28, was third in yesterday’s race. Verstappen’s team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, was fourth.

“It’s very special to win your first race and today is his day. It’s an incredible achievement,” said four-time world champion Vettel. “If you are quick enough you belong here. I don’t think it matters whether you are 18 [or older.]”

Verstappen also became the youngest driver to make it to the podium. “It’s a very big surprise, of course I didn’t expect that,” Verstappen said. “I couldn’t believe that I was leading the race. Today everything went well. Unbelievable.”

Verstappen was in second place behind Ricciardo after the Mercedes crash, but moved to the front after a round of pit stops with less than 25 laps to go and stayed there until the end despite the pressure from Raikkonen, who finished less than a second behind.

“Max Verstappen, you are a race winner, fantastic,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said over team radio after his driver crossed the finish line. “What a great debut. Fantastic. Great, great job.”

With his father watching closely, Verstappen got out of the car and pumped his fist into the air before running toward the team mechanics to celebrate. Jos, who had not finished better than third in his career, was visibly moved as his son received the winner’s trophy on the podium.

“He is doing an incredible job, especially with his age,” he said. “I’m so happy that he is with Red Bull because they can develop him even more and for sure he has all the potential in him.”

The younger Verstappen had been attracting all the attention in the run-up to the Spanish GP after Red Bull made the surprise announcement that the youngster was moving up from Toro Rosso to replace Daniil Kvyat. He answered the challenge with victory in only his 24th career race in F1.

It was a wild start at the Barcelona track.

Hamilton was in pole position but was overtaken by Rosberg at the start, and when the British driver tried to regain the lead, he appeared to be blocked by his team-mate and both cars touched going into Turn four, spinning across the track and into the gravel at the runoff area. The crash prompted deployment of the safety car and both drivers retired.

It was the latest setback for Hamilton, who is yet to win a race in a season in which he has been plagued by mechanical issues and unfortunate incidents. He hasn’t won since the United States GP in  October.

Williams’ Valtteri Bottas finished fifth, followed by Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Force India’s Sergio Perez. Bottas’ team-mate Felipe Massa was eighth after starting 18th, while McLaren’s Jenson Button and Kvyat completed the top ten. Home crowd-favourite Fernando Alonso retired with a power unit failure.