Verstappen Tipped To Become F1 Superstar

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has lavished praise on 18-year-old Max Verstappen after his stunning victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The team's decision to swap Daniil Kvyat with Verstappen was the major pre-weekend talking point, but the Dutchman justified their faith in him in abundance, smashing Formula One records as he kept Kimi Raikkonen at bay in Barcelona.

"Max's performance from the moment he stepped into the car to the chequered flag has been absolutely exemplary," said Horner. "He hasn't put a wheel wrong. He's been quick, measured, mature. He's defended incredibly well against a seasoned pro like Kimi.

"To score his first victory now, becoming the youngest grand prix victor on his debut for the team is fairytale stuff. I suspect he's going to get stronger when he gets more experienced, more familiar in the car. His confidence will grow."

The win required Verstappen to eke out 32 laps on the medium compound, but the 18-year-old had no problems with the unfancied two-stop strategy, and his mentality impressed Horner.

"I think the biggest aspect of his weekend has been his calmness," he explained. "We're all getting tense when there's five laps to go, because the tyres were at the end of their life and he's got Kimi breathing down his neck with what looked like obvious advantages.

"He very calmly came on the radio and said 'please can you ask Charlie to deal with the blue flags swiftly'. There was no agitation in his voice, there was no panic, there was no tension. It was a young man who was completely in control of what he was doing."

Horner could only offer his sympathy to Daniel Ricciardo, who was leading the race before Red Bull brought him into the pits in an attempt to counter the threat of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Verstappen has a long way to go if he his to match four-time world champion Vettel, but his career seems to be following a similar trend already having made the jump from Toro Rosso to winning races so quickly.

And that's not where the early comparisons end, according to his new team boss.

"It's quite uncanny really because there's an awful lot of similarities to when Sebastian joined the team," added Horner. "Mechanics were telling me that even the way he gets in the car is similar. Same side, the way he pulls his knee up to get into the chassis and so on.

"But he's his own man as well. He's a very together young man, you'd never have thought he was 18."