Eighteen-year-old Max Verstappen claimed an astonishing maiden Formula One victory at the Spanish Grand Prix after Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed out of the race on the first lap.

Verstappen turned in a masterful drive on a two-stop strategy, holding firm under pressure from Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen in the final stint to become F1's youngest-ever winner at 18 years and 227 days on his first race for Red Bull. The collision between Hamilton and Rosberg just after the start blew the race wide open, with both Red Bull and Ferrari splitting its drivers between two- and three-stop strategies.

It was the two men on the two-stop strategies, Verstappen and Raikkonen, who had made the correct calls despite being the two looking less likely to win the race at mid-distance. Verstappen was only promoted to the Red Bull seat ten days before the grand prix, stepping up from junior team Toro Rosso in place of Daniil Kvyat.

Sebastian Vettel rounded off the podium having held off Ricciardo. The Australian driver had led the first half of the race but, as it turned out, went on to the slower strategy, and finished fourth despite a puncture on the penultimate lap.

The biggest drama of the race came at the start. Hamilton had a good getaway from pole position but appeared to go too defensive on the run down to Turn 1, allowing Rosberg to get alongside him and sweep into the lead on the outside of the corner. Hamilton stayed close to his teammate and, with slightly better drive out of Turn 3, immediately dived to the right of the track. Rosberg had planted his car in the centre of the road and moved over slightly to cover Hamilton off, forcing the world champion onto the grass, where he lost control of the car and ended up wiping out both cars.

The incident turned what had looked likely to be an easy one-two for Mercedes into a fascinating duel between Red Bull and Ferrari, who had locked out the next two rows of the grid. Daniel Ricciardo had beaten teammate Max Verstappen into the first sequence of corners and led the race as the safety car came out, with the Australian successfully managing the restart on lap four.

Ricciardo led Verstappen, Vettel and Raikkonen for the first stint, pitting on lap 12. Verstappen followed a lap later and the Red Bull drivers managed to hold on to first and second when Vettel emerged from his own stop on lap 16. All four lead drivers -- Raikkonen stopped on lap 17 -- took on the medium compound tyre for the second stint.

It was at this point in the both pit walls decided to split the strategies of its drivers. Ricciardo's decision to pit for soft tyres on lap 29 was matched by Vettel and Ferrari the following lap, which at the time seemed like the fastest strategy. Soon it was clear Verstappen and Raikkonen had gone on to the alternate strategy, stretching out the middle stint on the medium tyre, and at mid-distance all four men looked to have a decent shot at winning the race.

Ricciardo and Vettel's third and final stops gave Verstappen a lead he ultimately would not relinquish for the remaining 22 laps, having already been on medium tyres for 10 laps. He had to hold off Raikkonen in a straight fight but the Ferrari driver was not able to get close enough using his DRS overtaking device to challenge the teenager for a victory at a circuit notoriously difficult for overtaking. The Dutch driver was faultless, with only a mistake likely to have given Raikkonen a genuine chance of an overtaking move in the closing stages.

In the closing stages Ricciardo still looked like a candidate to win with fresher medium tyres and he made an opportunistic lunge on Vettel at Turn 1 with seven laps remaining. Initially it looked like the move would stick as Ricciardo moved alongside the Ferrari driver but he was forced across the kerbs and had to yield the place. Vettel was less than impressed with Ricciardo's driving, angrily questioning over radio whether it was "racing or ping pong". The move cost both men time and made it more likely Verstappen or Raikkonen -- just five seconds up the road -- would win the race.

The Australian had several more looks at passing Vettel at Turn 1 but never again got close enough to pass, with a puncture on the penultimate lap costing him any chance of another attempt at taking the final step on the podium. The gap between fourth and fifth was so big that Ricciardo was able to pit for fresh rubber without losing a position.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas finished fifth in a quiet race away from the drama of the front. Carlos Sainz impressed by driving to sixth on an afternoon which saw his former teammate claim a race win. For Sainz it was a timely career-best result in front of a home crowd and a good reminder that the depth of talent at Red Bull goes far beyond F1's latest grand prix winner.

Sergio Perez finished seventh for Force India to cap a weekend of clear improvements for the team, though teammate Nico Hulkenberg had retired on lap 22 with flames coming from the rear of his VJM09. Felipe Massa turned in a good drive to eighth, battling back from a disappointing Saturday which had left him 18th on the grid.

Jenson Button scored his first points of the season with a late charge through the midfield to ninth, though McLaren's afternoon was tempered by a stoppage for teammate Fernando Alonso on lap 47. Daniil Kvyat, the man who made way for Verstappen ahead of this weekend, rounded off the points-paying positions.

Esteban Gutierrez looked well-placed to score his first points of the season and had barged past Haas teammate Romain Grosjean on lap 34. However, a mistake at Turn 9 allowed Button past him late on, with Kvyat following before the chequered flag to deny the Mexican.

Marcus Ericsson claimed 12th ahead of the Renaults, which saw Jolyon Palmer beat Kevin Magnussen to 13th despite a frustrating weekend of limited running. Felipe Nasr's challenging season continued as he finished 15th, ahead of Manor drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto.

The only other retirement was the Haas of Grosjean, who pulled into the pits in the closing stages several laps after a trip across the gravel trap at Turn 8.

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Nate Saunders

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