Max Verstappen, F1’s next great superstar, shows why Red Bull made the move on him

Teenager puts on a masterclass in tyre management to become youngest driver to win in Formula One as he triumphs in Barcelona, writes Graham Caygill. Mercedes-GP drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crash out on first lap.

Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo, left, looks on while his teammate Max Verstappen celebrates with their team at the Circuit de Catalunya on May 15, 2016 in Montmelo after the Spanish Grand Prix. AFShow more

There has been little for Daniil Kvyat to be cheerful about over the past week.

Dumped by Red Bull Racing and demoted to his former team Toro Rosso, it has been a chastening time for the Russian.

He did show a reminder of the fact he is still a talented driver as he set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap of Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

Unfortunately for him no-one was paying attention.

All eyes were on the man who had taken his seat, Max Verstappen, who created history when he became the youngest winner of a Formula One race as he triumphed in Barcelona.

More of Graham Caygill’s coverage of Spanish Grand Prix:

The Dutchman, at the age of 18 years and 228 days, demonstrated immediately just why Red Bull had made the move to promote him up from Toro Rosso as he put in an outstanding display that mixed in rapid pace, conserving tyres and defensive driving that was all performed to a high level.

Verstappen had shown enough in his first 23 races in the series with Toro Rosso that he had the talent to be a major player in the sport, the major shock, even to himself, is just how quickly he has got himself into the winners’ circle with his new team.

“It’s amazing, I couldn’t believe I was leading,” Verstappen said.

“It’s a very big surprise, I didn’t expect that. Unbelievable, I can’t believe it. I was targeting a podium but to win straight away is an amazing feeling.”

It was a fantastic effort from the teenager, but circumstances did fall his way to put him at the front, although he still had a lot of work of his own to do to capitalise fully on the chance once it came his way.

Of course the main factor was the clash at Turn 3 between the two Mercedes-GP cars on the opening lap, which took championship leader Nico Rosberg and world champion Lewis Hamilton out of the race.

The incident, which the stewards were right not to hand out any further punishments over, threw the race wide open, with Verstappen second behind teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

The Red Bull duo were quickly under pressure from the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, and how the Italian team must have rued their poor showing in qualifying.

The Ferraris had lined up fifth and sixth, having been impressive in practice, and that put them behind the Red Bulls rather than ahead them.

The Ferrari was quicker in race trim, but not by enough to pass on track, with the Circuit de Catalunya maintaining its reputation as being notoriously difficult to overtake on.

Photo gallery: Max Verstappen wins first race with Red Bull

It became a race of tactics, and normally the driver who leads has the advantage of track position gets the best strategy.

But in this case, the decision to put Ricciardo on the aggressive three-stop strategy backfired on the Australian.

Red Bull split their strategies as they put Verstappen on a two-stopper, and that gave him the lead going into the final third of the race.

Ricciardo was down to fourth behind Raikkonen and Vettel, who was also on a three-stopper, after the final pit stop had been made on Lap 42 and that was how they would finish.

Verstappen had the challenge of being on the oldest tyres of anyone in the top four, having made his second stop on Lap 35, with 31 laps remaining.

He did it because he expertly looked after his Pirelli compound tyres, and not putting a wheel wrong as he ensured Raikkonen never got in position to overtake.

“I knew it was going to be very hard, but you have to set your mind to try to control the tyres,” he added.

“In the last few laps you’re driving on ice, managing everything. That’s how a lot of races are won in Barcelona.”

Mercedes are still the class of the field and Verstappen cannot expect to be regularly challenging for wins yet, but Sunday will go down in history as what will be likely the first of many successes for F1’s newest superstar in the years to come.

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport