The Overview III

The pit stops had put Verstappen in the lead by 21 seconds. Now running in undisturbed air, Verstappen was able to nurse his tires and finally show his talents in full against a closing Raikkonen, who was ripping seconds off Verstappen’s lead by the lap. He fell inside Verstappen’s DRS zone on L49 and began unrelenting attacks on the Red Bull driver at the end on the long front straight. Verstappen cooly stayed on target, never putting a shell wrong, his Red Bulls’ superior traction putting the power down coming on the straight to stay just ahead of Raikkonen.

Calmly covering Raikkonen’s every move, Verstappen’s began to recognise the familiar pattern; by following so long in Verstappen’s wake, the Ferrari driver’s tires had been worn away. He was finished. And then he realized an even greater fact; by keeping his medium tires alive for an incredible 32 laps, he had just won the Spanish Grand Prix. Verstappen finished 0.6-seconds ahead of Raikkonen, the oldest driver in the field. Verstappen was just three years old when Raikkonen made his F1 debut, and it was Raikkonen who was the first driver to shake Verstappen’s hand in Parc Firme. Vettel finished third; Riccardo was forced to make a pit-stop for a left rear puncture on the penultimate lap but recovered for fourth.

Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Williams, ahead of Carlos Sainz, who kept pushing for Toro Rosso. Sergio Perez (Force India) was seventh, ahead of Felipe Massa (Williams) who recovered from 18th on the grid to finish eighth, with Jenson Button scoring points for McLaren in ninth. Daniil Kvyat, who lost his seat to Verstappen at Red Bull, finished in 10th for Toro Rosso. He had the honour of setting the fastest lap of the race.