At first it looked as though both Red Bulls would be going for a two-stop strategy, whilst rivals Ferrari were on a three-stop.
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Red Bull boss Christian Horner says the decision to put Daniel Ricciardo on a three-stop strategy during the Spanish Grand Prix was made for tactical reasons as they tried to work out the best way to beat Ferrari and win the race.
At 18 years and 228 days he became the youngest race victor, replacing four-time champion Sebastian Vettel who had also taken that record as a Red Bull driver at 21 years and 74 days in 2008.
Verstappen, son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, became the first Dutchman to win a Formula One race.
Verstappen was second behind Ricciardo after the Mercedes crash, but moved to the front after a round of pit stops with less than 25 laps to go and stayed there until the end despite a late challenge by Raikkonen, who finished less than a second behind. At the Russian Grand Prix two weeks ago, Kvyat ran into Vettel twice on the first lap.
Ricciardo won three races in 2014 when, like Verstappen, he moved up from Toro Rosso to the main Red Bull team, and 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve said it will be interesting to see how Verstappen’s rise impacts Ricciardo’s future.
Kvyat was promoted from Toro Rosso for the 2015 season when Vettel went to Ferrari.
It ended Rosberg’s run of four wins this season and seven in all, dating back to previous year, but did nothing for Hamilton’s effort to close the 43-points lead that the German retained ahead of him.
Initially it was suspected contact could have been made during a manoeuvre Ricciardo attempted on Vettel into turn one, whereby he overshot the corner and Vettel repassed him, but Ricciardo disagrees. And while Red Bull might have looked insane to make it, they’re now looking insane like foxes.
Verstappen spoke of only feeling “positive pressure” and his hopes for a good start, and the F1 gods were smiling on this rising star as the Mercedes pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg took each other out on the first lap.
Of course, we’re obligated to mention how Verstappen was in the position to get his first win.
Rosberg won the first four races of the season and qualified second to teammate Hamilton on Sunday.
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Rosberg blocked and as Hamilton pulled alongside Rosberg forced him into the grass. Hamilton lost control and came back on track, colliding into Rosberg and taking them both out of the race. So while Red Bull is now smiling about its driver swap that got Verstappen a victory on Sunday, that wink accompanying the smile is because it knows that Mercedes’ team dynamics are the ones that will now be thoroughly dissected.
