Max Verstappen says he never expected to win the Spanish Grand Prix and has described scoring his maiden F1 victory as “unbelievable” and a “very special feeling”.
It was the Dutch driver’s debut race with Red Bull Racing after swapping seats with Daniil Kvyat. He started in fourth place but moved up to second when the two Mercedes drivers collided on lap one.
Red Bull opted to split strategies, with Verstappen on a two-stop race and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo pitting three times. The 18-year-old was able to hold off Kimi Raikkonen to become F1’s youngest ever winner.
“It’s a very special feeling,” he said. “Of course I didn’t expect to win; after the Mercedes pair crashed then you’re targeting a podium, but in the end to come out on top, it’s incredible.
“To hear the Dutch national anthem for the first time in Formula 1, I have to think about my dad for sure and I heard he was crying, so yeah it’s unbelievable. He invested a lot of time in me and this achievement is also because of him.
“I wasn’t nervous during the race, I was just trying to focus and drive the best I could. We focused a lot on keeping the tyres alive because at my last stop I still had to do 32 laps until the end, but it worked out well.
“With five laps to the end I saw Kimi was dropping off a bit, he tried a few times and of course it kills your tyres and from there I just like ‘okay, focus on the tyres now and bring it home’. I will for sure remember this and at the moment it’s just a great feeling.
“It’s amazing, I have no words for it. It was very good company on the podium, I mean Kimi even raced against my dad, so it’s very funny! I was celebrating a lot on the in lap and I got a bit of cramp, but that’s part of it.”
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