Max Verstappen has praised Red Bull Racing for delivering him with an 'unbelievable' car which allowed him to win the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Verstappen qualified in third place behind Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, however, was the second car on the grid when Raikkonen failed to start the race following a turbo issue.
Moving into second place by the first corner on the race start, Verstappen passed Hamilton for the lead on the fourth lap, going on to take a dominant win, finishing 12 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger in Hamilton.
"I think in the beginning, straight away the car felt good," said Verstappen, reflecting on his second F1 race win.
"Saw Lewis was struggling a bit with traction, he was slipping a bit more than me. I used my battery as much as I could. Of course he has more to lose in the championship, so I went for it at Turn 1.
"From there I could do my own race, the car was unbelievable – if I needed to speed up, I could speed up. It’s amazing. It’s a very tough race, so it’s incredible to win," he added.
Having suffered from seven retirements through a series of collisions and reliability problems, Verstappen's win in Sepang came at the perfect time, with the Dutchman failing to finish on the podium since April's Chinese Grand Prix.
"Especially after the season I’ve had, I think this victory came at a very good time," he said.
"I was really happy when I crossed the line. Together with my dad I came this far, and then I got the great help from Red Bull… and then we got champagne!"
Verstappen's victory makes him the fifth different winner of 2017 and marks Red Bull's second win of the season, allowing the Milton Keynes-based team to close in on Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship and Verstappen to cement himself in sixth place in the Drivers' Championship having come under threat from Sergio Perez in recent races.
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