Firstly, this was a couple of weekends ago… I’ve been busy working on other projects, stopping me from writing about this.
However, it was a record-breaking race in many, many ways.
This was Max Verstappen’s first win – and it owed a lot to the clash between the two Mercedes drivers on the opening lap at turn 4. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg ran into each other in a chaotic run from the lights going out. The clash, down to a racing incident, was caused by Rosberg aggressively avoiding an ambitious move by Hamilton, who had managed to get his front wing aligned with the German’s right-rear tyre. In attempting to avoid an all-out collision, Hamilton put a couple of wheels on the grass. This sent him out of control and he careered into his team-mate.
Hamilton’s frustration was evident, covering his visor with both hands, and remaining in the car for a while, before angrily flinging his steering wheel at the barrier.
It’s fair to say that Hamilton hasn’t had the best start to the 2016 season – not winning a race since he won the championship last year.
This lead to a tense battle throughout the whole race between the Red Bulls and Ferraris, which boiled down to a heated battle between Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen.
Max Verstappen would hold the former world champion at bay until the end to claim his maiden victory, setting a few records along the way.
Max became the youngest driver to start a Grand Prix back in Australia 2015 (aged just 7 years and 166 days) and took Daniil Kvyat’s record of the youngest driver to score points at that year’s Malaysian Grand Prix (aged 17 years and 180 days).
This race though meant that Verstappen also became the youngest driver to lead a race (taking that from Sebastian Vettel – 20 years and 89 days) and the youngest driver to win a race (also from Vettel – 21 years and 72 days). Verstappen was 18 years and 228 days.
As well as this, Max Verstappen is the first Dutch driver to win a Grand Prix, out of 17 who have raced. His father, Jos, was previously the most successful with two third-placed finishes.
In theory, these records are still up for Verstappen to grab:
- Youngest driver to set the fastest lap – held by Nico Rosberg at 20 years and 258 days.
- Oldest driver to start a race – help by Louis Chiron at 58 years and 288 days.
- Youngest driver to take pole position – held by Sebastian Vettel at 21 years and 72 days.
- Longest F1 career – held by Michael Schumacher at 7763 days.
- Youngest world champion – held by Sebastian Vettel at 23 years and 134 days.
Max has plenty of time to work on these and many more too.