Formula 1 News: Max Verstappen Thanks Race Engineer for Malaysian GP Performance

Max Verstappen has thanked his race engineer, Xevi Pujolar, for helping him become the youngest-ever points scorer in Formula One history.

The 17-year-old finished seventh in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, collecting six points for Toro Rosso in only his second race.

F1's youngest points scorers

	Driver	Age	Season Set
1	Max Verstappen	17 years, 180 days	2015
2	Daniil Kyvat	19 years, 180 days	2014
3	Sebastian Vettel	19 years, 234 days	2007
4	Jaime Alguersuari	20 years, 12 days	2010
5	Jenson Button	20 years, 67 days	2000

At 17 years, five months and 27 days, he’s comfortably the youngest driver to collect points in the sport, but the humble teenager took to Twitter to praise his colleague Pujolar for his role in the achievement.

"

Great day for the team aswell. Special thanks to my race engineer @xevipujolar for advising me at the right time on track 👌 #F1 #teamwork

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) March 29, 2015"

"

What a race! Really happy to finish 7th :). And the best 'bull' too. Had some great fights with the… https://t.co/HFIiEtMGcz

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) March 29, 2015"

Former Williams chief engineer Pujolar, who joined Toro Rosso before the 2014 season, also used the social media website to congratulate Verstappen.

"

Very pleased to see @Max33Verstappen scoring his #F1 points! Excellent Performance in all conditions. #PureRacer #Sepang Really enjoyed it!

— Xevi Pujolar (@xevipujolar) March 29, 2015"

It topped an excellent weekend for Toro Rosso, who outperformed their senior team, Red Bull, on both fronts, with Carlos Sainz finishing just behind Verstappen in eighth place.

The Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth and 10th respectively, and Verstappen suggested the battle between the teams was “good fun."

In his post-race interview, the Dutchman revealed a switch to the Hard tyre compound early in the race allowed him to flourish, again citing team-work for the result.

“The first few laps were a bit tricky for me as I was struggling a lot on the Medium tyres, so we boxed early for the Hard ones and that worked perfectly, the car felt great,” said Verstappen, per ESPN.

“This was the right strategy and we did a great job managing the tyres.”

The season continues in China in two weeks’ time at the Shanghai International Circuit, where Toro Rosso scored one point last season courtesy of Kvyat, whom Verstappen replaces as the youngest-ever points scorer.