Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Ferrari and More
On his debut for Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
After losing a head-to-head fight with new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying, the 18-year-old ensured he came out on top in the race, producing a mature drive from fourth on the grid.
Utilising a two-stop tyre strategy, Verstappen withstood huge pressure from Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the latter stages of the race and has explained how he managed to keep the 2007 world champion, who is twice his age, behind until the chequered flag.
Raikkonen may never have a better opportunity to add to his 20 grand prix wins, having struggled to come close to overtaking Verstappen despite a superior power unit and the aid of DRS.
But Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has pinpointed the reason why Ferrari were forced to settle for second-best on a day Mercedes gifted them an opportunity to register a first victory since last September.
Arrivabene dismissed the idea the team's strategy had no effect on the overall result, but Ricciardo was left convinced Red Bull's tyre choices cost him a first win in almost two years.
Having been switched to a three-stop strategy, the Australian was left deeply unhappy with his team after the chequered flag, but team principal Christian Horner has outlined why Red Bull took the decision.
Another team boss forced to carefully manage his drivers in the immediate aftermath of the race was Toto Wolff, who believes neither Lewis Hamilton nor Nico Rosberg was to blame for their collision on the opening lap.
Closing this week's roundup is Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa, who explained why Fernando Alonso was forced to retire from his home grand prix 24 hours after dragging McLaren into the third segment of qualifying.
Max Verstappen 'Didn't Expect to Win' Spanish Grand Prix
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Max Verstappen has revealed he didn't expect to win the Spanish Grand Prix, even after the crash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the start of the race.
Having been promoted from Toro Rosso ahead of the Barcelona-based event, the 18-year-old qualified fourth on his Red Bull debut before being promoted to second place following the collision between the Mercedes drivers at Turn 4 on the opening lap.
That created a four-man fight for victory, and after team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel both made the mistake of switching to a three-stop strategy, Verstappen faced a head-to-head battle with fellow two-stopper Kimi Raikkonen during the closing laps.
Despite Raikkonen's best efforts, Verstappen—who spent a huge 32 laps on the medium-compound tyres for his final stint—held on to become the youngest race winner in the history of F1 and the first Dutch driver to win a grand prix.
Verstappen admitted he didn't believe victory was within reach until the latter stages and was surprisingly calm in the lead of the race, telling his official website:
"After the Mercedes-pair crashed, I started targeting a podium finish, but I didn’t expect to win. ...
I wasn’t nervous, but I couldn’t believe it. With still 10 laps to go, I looked at the leaderboard alongside the track and saw myself at the top.
Driving at the front was something I had already done before, but then it suddenly hit me. Then I was thinking: don’t look at the board no more, focus on the tyres and bring the car home. That’s what I did, even though the last part of the race took very long, to me that is.
It was a very special feeling to hear the Dutch national anthem for the first time in the history of Formula 1.
"
Verstappen's father, former grand prix driver Jos, suggested his son's calmness under pressure was key to his victory, telling Autosport (h/t Eurosport) how the Red Bull driver is "very flexible" and "was always under control" under attack from Raikkonen.
Per Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner reiterated his belief the team has "the strongest" driver lineup on the grid, adding Verstappen's "calmness" was the "biggest aspect of his performance."
Ferrari Feel Final-Sector Struggles Cost Kimi Raikkonen in Max Verstappen Fight
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Maurizio Arrivabene, the Ferrari team principal, believes Red Bull's strong pace in the final sector at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya prevented Raikkonen from pipping Verstappen to victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.
With Verstappen and Raikkonen both adopting a two-stop strategy, the pair were involved in a cat-and-mouse chase in the closing laps of the race.
Despite the advantage of a strong power unit and DRS, Raikkonen was unable to get close enough to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre on Verstappen at the end of the long main straight, with the Red Bull driver faultless in the tight and twisty third sector.
Ferrari faced criticism for switching Sebastian Vettel to a three-stop strategy in Spain, but Arrivabene has suggested the SF16-H car's lack of performance at the end of the lap was what cost the team a first victory of the season.
Per Autosport (h/t Eurosport), he said:
"If we had reversed the strategy most probably Sebastian would have been in the same position as Kimi.
The problem was not the strategy, the problem was—as happened in qualifying—we were not good enough in the last part of the track, in the slow corner.
It was in the last part of the track the Red Bull was going big time, and Kimi was unable to catch him again until the end of the straight.
So it wasn't a question of strategy. The question is, like in qualifying, why were we very, very slow in the last part of the track?
"
Despite his disappointment with the result, Arrivabene paid tribute to Raikkonen's "fantastic" performance, adding: "It's a pity we weren't good enough in certain parts of the track to give him the possibility of winning the race."
Meanwhile, Arrivabene revealed Ferrari will dedicate much of their running in the forthcoming in-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to resolve their problems in qualifying, per Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble.
Red Bull Defend Decision to Change Daniel Ricciardo's Spanish GP Strategy
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Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, believes the pit wall was right to switch Daniel Ricciardo to a three-stop strategy during the Spanish Grand Prix despite the Australian's suggestion the move cost him victory.
After the first-lap crash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Ricciardo led the opening phase of the race, but he was left to finish a distant fourth behind Max Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen and fellow three-stopper Sebastian Vettel after his alternative tyre strategy failed to pay off.
The Australian, whose chances of a podium finish evaporated when he suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap, later told of his "disappointment" after his team "threw the win away," Motorsport.com's Darshan Chokhani, claiming the move "didn't make sense."
However, Horner has revealed Vettel's pace in free air encouraged the team to cover the Ferrari driver with Ricciardo, insisting Red Bull felt it was the correct move at the time.
According to Motorsport.com's Andrew van Leeuwen, he said:
"We felt that once Sebastian had passed Carlos Sainz and was running in clean air, you could see that his pace was strong, stronger than ours and the obvious way that they were going to navigate themselves past us was through a three stop.
So we had to take a tactical decision at that point to say do we try and cover Vettel with one of our cars, therefore the best car which we believed had the best chance of winning the race, which was the lead car, and we elected to go for the three stop.
It looks like Ferrari made that same choice at that point in time. Ferrari then went very, very early on their last stint to try and get Sebastian track position and obviously we pitted I think five or six laps later with Daniel which gave him a much a better tyre.
"
Per the same source, Horner said Ricciardo, with much fresher rubber, would have had "a big pace advantage" over the two-stopping Verstappen and Raikkonen had he "managed to get past [Vettel] a little earlier."
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Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg Will Be Allowed to Race Despite Spanish GP Crash
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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has insisted Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will still be allowed to race evenly for the 2016 title despite their opening-lap crash in the Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton claimed his third pole position of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday, but he lost the lead almost immediately at the start of the race, with Rosberg passing the three-time world champion around the outside of Turn 1.
Rosberg's poor exit from Turn 3—caused by an incorrect engine setting leaving his car down on power—allowed Hamilton to gain rapidly on the short stretch toward Turn 4.
As he attempted to overtake Rosberg down the inside, however, Hamilton was squeezed onto the grass run-off area and lost control of his car, spinning into his team-mate and eliminating both drivers from the race.
The nature of the incident drew parallels with the Mercedes drivers' collision on the second lap of the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, where Hamilton was left with a puncture after Rosberg tried to pass him around the outside of Les Combes.
Wolff said no one was to blame for the clash in Barcelona, referring to it as "an unfortunate racing incident triggered by various circumstances," per Sky Sports' Pete Gill and James Galloway. He added:
"I think the manoeuvre was fair enough to attempt. The result was unfortunate, but making the manoeuvre and seeing the light [on Rosberg's car] blinking and just going for it was what he should have done.
And equally you can't blame Nico for closing the door. But the difference of speed just triggered the incident in the end.
Nico was in the wrong setting and that's why he lost power out of Turn Three. He didn't have as much [hybrid] energy as Lewis had.
It explains why everything went so quickly. There was such a discrepancy in speed and they needed to make a decision in a split second, and that ended up with Lewis hitting Nico.
...
We have moved on from Spa in 2014 and it was a completely different situation with the team back then. But continuing with the approach of letting them race it was clear that eventually this could happen.
And we will continue to let them race. Today was just a couple of unfortunate coincidences that ended up in us losing as a team. So it was different than Spa.
"
Wolff's view was not shared by non-executive Mercedes director Niki Lauda, however, who suggested Hamilton "was too aggressive" in the events leading to the "stupid" crash, per Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble.
Meanwhile, Hamilton said the collision "doesn't change anything" in his relationship with Rosberg but stressed the need to ensure "this doesn’t happen again," per F1i.com's Chris Medland.
McLaren-Honda: Software Issue Caused Fernando Alonso's Spanish GP Retirement
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Yusuke Hasegawa, the head of Honda's F1 operation, has revealed a "software command issue" with the two-time world champion's power unit caused Fernando Alonso's retirement from the Spanish Grand Prix.
Almost 18 months after the Japanese manufacturer returned to F1, the team achieved a landmark result in Spain on Saturday, when Alonso took a Honda-powered McLaren to the third segment of qualifying for the first time.
However, the Spaniard was unable to sustain that form in the race itself and slowed to a halt on Lap 45 of 66 having suffered his first mechanical-related retirement of the season.
Honda has made considerable improvements to the reliability of its V6 turbo engine in 2016, and while Hasegawa admitted an engine problem was behind Alonso's stoppage, he is pleased with the long lifespan of the powertrain, per Autosport (h/t Eurosport):
"I'm not sure the exact cause but a software command issue happened and it stopped the engine.
The engine itself is fine, we can even use it for Monaco.
It stopped on the circuit so we need to check if that created any damage because of the high temperatures.
...
This is the fourth race for Fernando's engine. We never survived that long [before].
We didn't finish but it was a system failure. We were about to prove our engine can last four events, which is very encouraging for us.
"
According to the same source, Alonso said he was "very sad" with a second Spanish GP retirement in as many years, insisting McLaren are "not happy with the reliability yet."
Meanwhile, Alonso revealed how he was instructed to stay behind team-mate Jenson Button in the race despite being "quite a bit faster," Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde.
Button went on to claim his second consecutive points finish, coming ninth.
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