On 15th May 2016 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain, Max Verstappen was already making history in his first race as a Red Bull driver. He became the youngest Formula One grand prix winner at only 18 years 228 days old.
The weekend did not begin with Verstappen as the clear favourite to take victory. Saturday’s qualifying saw the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topping the time sheets. The two Silver Arrows lined up on the front row, with Hamilton on pole following a superb Saturday, dominating again as they had for the year up to this race.
An early crash between the Mercedes cars left the race wide open for a fight between the Red Bulls and Ferraris. Rosberg had immediately squeezed Hamilton to the grass around Turn Four, causing the Brit to spin, taking out his teammate in the process.
This was a prime example of the breakdown that took place at Mercedes throughout the 2016 season as Rosberg campaigned for a Driver’s World Championship for himself. After reviewing the crash, Race Control deemed there was no further action to take as it was a race incident where both drivers were at fault. Verstappen, who led from lap 44 of the race, consistently held off the challenge posed by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in order to win. This was not a straightforward victory in the absence of the Mercedes cars.
The podium was Verstappen in first position, Raikkonen in second, and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel taking third place.
For Red Bull, this was their first race win since 2014 at the Belgium Grand Prix that year. It began the upwards trajectory of the whole Red Bull team, and their prodigy Verstappen. The record he set at this race was beating Red Bull’s previous golden boy, Sebastian Vettel, by two and a half years. Verstappen also became the first ever Dutch race winner with this victory.
As both Mercedes DNFed at this grand prix, the Driver’s Championship standings did not change drastically, with Rosberg maintaining his 43 point lead over his teammate Hamilton.
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Written by Alexandra.
Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports
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