Max Verstappen has made history at the Spanish Grand Prix, the 18 year old has become the youngest ever race winner in Formula One.
Branded as a potential champion from his early teens, Verstappen has proved any doubters wrong with a flawless performance in Spain.
The Dutchman finished ahead of a charging Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari, with the Fins teammate Sebastian Vettel coming home third.
(Getty Images)
All three benefited from a first lap crash between reigning World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, and his Mercedes teammate, Championship leader, Nico Rosberg.
The Mercedes pair shared the front row of the grid, but it was the German who had the better start taking the lead into the first corner, however a desperate Hamilton wouldn’t budge and an optimistic move into the third corner saw contact between the two, and the result was that both were out of the race.
The team’s non – executive chairman Niki Lauda has blamed Hamilton for the collision.
'It is stupid, we could've won this race,' the Austrian told the BBC. 'Lewis is too aggressive. I need to talk to them and hear their explanation and then we will see what happens.' Mercedes boss Totto Wolff was also displeased with the incident, the German seen chasing down both drivers as the headed into the team garage after returning from the track.
However Wolff was slightly more cautious in his assessment than that of Lauda.
'Niki has a driver's opinion and it's fair enough. As a driver you see it in black and white,' he said.
'From a team's perspective we've looked at the pictures and the data and it's not clear cut. Nico had a really good turn one and turn two, Lewis tried to dive in, Nico closed the door.
'I'd say let's wait and see what the stewards say. It's not a situation where you can attribute 100 percent of the blame.'
(Getty Images)
However the spoils and the headlines belong to Verstappen who also become the first ever Dutch winner in Formula One.
He said post-race: “It feels amazing. I can’t believe it. It was a great race. I have to say thank you to the team for giving me such a great car.
“To win in the first race is such an amazing feeling. My dad helped me a lot to achieve this, this is amazing. I couldn’t believe I was leading the race. I held onto the tyres. We had the right strategy. It’s a very big surprise. I had quite a bit of pressure from Kimi but it is difficult to overtake here.”
Rosberg still has a comfortable lead in the championship standings, being 43 points clear of closest rival Hamilton before Sunday's race.
However, the collision ended Mercedes hopes of extending the team's winning run to 11 races and equalling McLaren's 1988 record streak of success.
Newshub
