Red Bull debutant Verstappen wins Spanish Grand Prix
Xinhua, May 15, 2016 Adjust font size:
The 18 year-old Max Verstappen caused one of the biggest upsets in recent Formula 1 history when he won the Spanish Grand Prix in the Circuito de Catalonia circuit outside of Barcelona on Sunday.
The teenager who was making his debut for Red Bull after being promoted from the Toro Rosso squad, took advantage of a race which changed completely within the first 20 seconds to finish ahead of Ferrari pair Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
It is hard to think of a more dramatic start after the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both span out on the fourth corner after starting first and second on the grid.
Rosberg had overtaken Hamilton on the first corner and in his attempts to recover Hamilton ran off the track, lost control and as he span took the World Championship leader and winner of the last seven Gran Prixes out of the race.
With the two cars which have dominated this season and last out before the end of the first lap, the Spanish Grand Prix suddenly opened up for the other teams and was eventually decided by tactics and Verstappen's cool head.
Verstappen only took two stops during the race and although he had Raikkonen on his tail for the last 22 laps, he drove perfectly to claim his win. He also benefitted from his team' s decision to give team-mate Daniel Ricciardo three stops, which had been calculated as a slower strategy on a track where overtaking is notoriously complicated.
Despite his failure to finish, Rosberg maintains the leadership of the Drivers' Championship. Endit