Max Verstappen’s first victory: one of the greatest stories in Formula 1 history
It’s early May 2016. The Formula 1 season is 4 races in and one of the drivers of the top teams is already under huge pressure. The Russian driver Daniil Kvyat made some errors in previous races and his home race in Sotsji would be his last one in the Red Bull after driving into Sebastian Vettel, twice. He was replaced by Max Verstappen at least until the end of the season.
Max Verstappen, son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen was just a little over 18 years old and driving a F1 car before he was allowed to get his drivers license. Max was by far the hottest young driver on the grid. Everyone was watching him and the big teams like Mercedes and Ferrari had huge interest in signing him for the future. Since Max was driving for the Red Bull’s young talent program at Torro Rosso dr. Helmut Marko, who is in charge of the “Red Bull driver development program” made the first move by getting Max to Red Bull and staying ahead of the competition. One decision he would never regret.
Can you imagine being in Formula 1 at the age of 17? In the Netherlands you’re not even allowed to drive a car by yourself.
Max’s promotion was announced at May 5th, 10 days before the Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. On May 13th he was allowed to drive the car for the first time during the practice sessions of the Spanish Grand Prix. Cool as he is most of the times, Max was explaining the press he would take a couple of weeks to get used to the car and every lap possible would be one to gain experience. Team principal Christian Horner mentioned he will need the weekend to get used to the car and settle in since he’s never sat in this car before. Also former Red Bull driver David Coulthard shared these thoughts when asked about it.
On Saturday the first real test was the qualifying for the race on Sunday. Max easily made it through the first two rounds, but had close fight with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen but managed to stay ahead of him with a flying last lap in Q3.
The race
Max starts from P4 next to his teammate Daniel Ricciardo on the second row and just behind the two Mercedes’ of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The lights go out and off they go! Max has a decent start but Vettel is attacking Max on the inside and takes over his spot before they arrive at the first corner. However, Max immediately charges back the four time world champion and takes over on the outside in the long third corner. Back in 4th place!
The two Mercedes drivers are battling for the world championship and race each other to the max. This time, after just three corner’s, they go over the edge and collide with each other taking both cars out of the race. Daniel Ricciardo leads the race and Max is just behind him in 2nd place. Who would’ve thought: both Red Bulls leading the race!
To back off the two attacking Ferrari’s Red Bull decides to go for two different pit stop strategies. Ricciardo went for a three stop strategy, while Max only went in twice for a set of new tires. Ricciardo came in for the first pit stop after just 12 laps, which made Max the youngest driver ever to lead a Formula 1 race.
After lap 43, when Ricciardo came in for his 3rd stop Max took over the lead of the race again with Kimi driving a little over a second behind. The Iceman stayed behind him with a very close margin for 20 laps and came within DRS-margin for multiple times but never saw the chance of passing the youngster. Max’ tires were almost done so he needed to be very careful not to get a puncture towards the end of the race. Somehow Max impressively managed his tires very well and gave Kimi no opportunity to pass. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo did get a puncture in the last lap while having much fresher tires than Max did, which made Max’ performance even more incredible.
It looked like Max was driving like he was as experienced as Kimi (former world champion and over 250 races), which was very impressive by the eighteen year old. The constant pressure Kimi was giving him, didn’t make an impact on the youngster at all. Incredible calmness showed how great he already is at such a young age!
The unbelievable thing was about to happen and it was just a few corners away. One more chicane, one last corner and on to the straight! Checkered flag!! Max Verstappen managed to keep Kimi behind him in second place and after 66 laps he became the youngest driver ever to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix with just 18 years and 227 days old when he crossed the finish line! Even after almost five years, it gives me goosebumps looking at it again. Just one of those impressive performances in sports history that makes you love sports to the max ;-).
Max stands on the podium for the first time ever and to make it even more special he is surrounded in good company by both Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel who have five world champion titles combined.
The reactions
After Max’s incredible victory everyone was astonished. Even the greatest in the Paddock couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.
Damon Hill (former F1 World Champion ): It’s a miracle. It’s mind blowing. The self-confidence is unbelievable, his maturity, his calmness, he’s is just born to do this. It’s just phenomenal.
Nikki Lauda (3 time F1 World Champion) : I take my hat off, that is just a wonder child. We have never experienced this in the motorsport, that someone steps so dedicated in new car and win’s a Grand Prix! It’s never happened before, and will never happen again. What he has achieved, to win here today against all odds is just unbelievable!
Christian Horner (team principal Red Bull Racing): I don’t think anyone has ever won in his debut. He’s been impressive all weekend, didn’t make a single mistake. And to win a Grand Prix like that, socking up the pressure from Kimi (Raikkonen) for so many laps, hugely impressive! And he didn’t even do one practice lap in this car before this weekend!
David Coulthard (former F1 driver): The most impressive thing is not that he is a very fast driver, but he communicates, he smiles, he’s humble, he’s intelligent. Today was one of the highs since I’ve retired.
Olaf Mol (Dutch-commentator): This is so fucking bizar. Years and years we hoped for something and then out of nowhere there it is. Sports victories can be so great, but this is the best I’ve ever seen!!
Destiny?
The Dutch consider Barcelona almost as their city due to the legacy Johan Cruijf left back in the day. Ever since there has always been this special connection between the Dutch and Barcelona. Two months before this amazing race the great Johan Cruijf passed away on March 24th. And just a month before his passing the two met each other on this Catalunya circuit during the F1 pre-season testing. This victory of Max almost feels orchestrated with help from higher forces since his debut win was in Barcelona and in a time which is highly connected to legendary number Johan Cruijf is stil known for all over the world: number 14. Max Verstappen made history on this day by also becoming the first Dutch Formula 1 race winner ever and won the Grand Prix of Spain in 2016 in 1:41:40. Destiny? I leave that up to you!
