Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has won his first ever Grand prix in Spain today following a disastrous first lap for the Mercedes.
The Dutch driver, who made his debut with Red Bull Racing this weekend, has become the youngest ever Grand Prix winner at just 18 years and 227 days old. He also becomes the first ever Dutch driver to win a Grand Prix. Victory came today following the team’s decision to elongated Verstappen’s middle stint. Essentially putting him on what was supposed to be the slower two-stop strategy, contrary to his team mate Daniel Riccardo and Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who were both on three stop strategies. The two-stop proved the way to go in the end and Verstappen was leading following the last round of stops. He did have to fight for his maiden victory though, keeping the two-stopping Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen behind him in the closing stages. The Ferrari driver looked feisty, but Verstappen remained calm and collected, pulling out a very mature drive to take the victory. While Vettel took the last podium position behind Raikkonen.
Ultimately Red Bull and Ferrari were capitalising on what was a dreadful opening lap for the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Both drivers committing the cardinal sin of racing today, they took out their team mate. Rosberg did make the better start of the two and swept around the outside of Hamilton into turn one to take the lead of the race. The issue began when Rosberg started to slow due to the fact his engine was in the wrong mode. This then meant Hamilton had a better run out of turn three, but found the gap on the inside of Rosberg closing as the German defended. Hamilton ended up on the grass and spun into his team-mate, eliminating both cars in the gravel trap of turn four.
“He had made a mistake and started in the wrong engine setting,” Hamilton argued. “Before the race we have to pick which engine setting and there is only one, maximum power, and he hadn’t gone to that. So he decelerated at that point and it meant that he lost about 180 bhp. I was catching him and as I was catching he wasn’t on the racing line. As a racing driver when you are going 17kph faster you go for the gap.” Rosberg understandably has a different view of the situation.
“I was aware of the situation and saw Lewis coming closer, so I went for the usual racing driver action of closing the inside line and closing the door as early as I could. I made it very clear I wasn’t going to leave any space on the inside and I was very surprised he went for the gap anyway,” Rosberg stated. Both drivers were summoned to face the stewards after the race but escaped without punishment, with their crash judged to have been a racing incident. Though it is fair to say the top people at Mercedes will be looking into this incident in the days to come.
Elsewhere it was a slightly bittersweet day for the other Red Bull of Riccardo, who had to settle with 4th after leading the majority of the race. He did suffer with a left rear puncture that meant he had to pit on the penultimate lap. But the team’s decision to put him on the slower three stop strategy definitely cost him a potential podium position today. You could see the frustration in his driving as he was stuck behind an obviously slower Vettel in the closing stages. Trying his best to overtake the Ferrari, which was a task too far in the end.
It was good news for Williams though, who celebrated another double points finish at a track they knew would be tough for them. Valtteri Bottas finished in 5th and Felipe Massa in 8th, following an impressive recovery drive for the Brazilian after he qualified 18th for the race. They were not the only happy team as Toro Rosso got their highest finish round the Circuit de Catalunya. With Carlos Sainz finishing in 6th at his home Grand Prix. The young driver was thrilled with the result and could be seen waving a Spanish flag from his car on the cool down lap.
Sergio Perez finished 7th, scoring some well needed points for Force India. While the McLaren of Jenson Button finished 9th. The team did look set for another double points finish but unreliability once again struck the team. With Fernando Alonso reporting a loss of power and pulling off the track in the closing stages. A shame for the Spaniard at his home Grand Prix. Daniil Kvyat, who lost his seat to Verstappen at Red Bull this week, completed the points finishers in 10th in what I imagine is a weekend I’m sure he would like to forget.
Overall the race was interesting. With the Mercedes taking each other out on the first lap we had four drivers all in with a chance of winning the race. There were some good battles up and down the field to keep you interested, and a worthy winner in the end. As the editor of Overtake Motorsport Jordan Groves summed up with his thought on the day “I’m not ashamed to say there was a tear at some point during that victory lap. I cannot believe it, f*****g incredible!” I think since he’s the boss we can excuse his choice language.
Me personally, I think Verstappen’s win puts my life in perspective. He’s 18 and a Grand Prix winner. I’m 21 and consider it a personal victory if I manage to eat anything other than digestive biscuits for dinner. I’ll leave you now with my highlight of the weekend, an eerily calm Toto Wolff and his thoughts on the Mercedes incident. Which just leads me to ask. Did someone in Mercedes give him some chill pills before his interviews today?
"A difficult incident to analyse…" #SpanishGP ?? #F1 https://t.co/0TY3z9o2Q4
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 15, 2016
Spanish GP result
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 66 laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari,
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari,
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull,
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams,
6. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso,
7. Sergio Perez, Force India,
8. Felipe Massa, Williams,
9. Jenson Button, McLaren, +1 lap
10. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, +1 lap
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, +1 lap
12. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, +1 lap
13. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, +1 lap
14. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, +1 lap
15. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, +1 lap
16. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, +1 lap
17. Rio Haryanto, Manor, +1 lap
DNF Romain Grosjean, Haas,
DNF Fernando Alonso, McLaren,
DNF Nico Hulkenberg, Force India,
DNF Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes,
DNF Nico Rosberg, Mercedes,
Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Racing Press Release
