The prodigy that is Max Verstappen gave further evidence that he is a Formula One world champion of the future when he fully justified his upgrade to Red Bull’s top team.
The 18-year-old Dutch sensation, who bumped Daniil Kvyat out of the team last week, gave his senior colleague Daniel Ricciardo a tough time in qualifying for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, finishing faster in both Q1 and Q2.
The Australian Ricciardo ultimately prevailed to take third place on the grid but Verstappen made it a second row lockout by finishing ahead of the two Ferraris. Christian Horner, the team principal, said: “To lock out the second row, the boys have done a magic job there. Daniel Ricciardo’s last lap was pretty awesome and Max, well what can you say – it justifies why he is in that seat.”
Ricciardo looked relieved and said: “I’m really happy to be in front of both Ferraris. Max was doing really good – we are both on the second row so that’s pretty awesome. We chipped away at it and it took a bit of time to come. I knew I had the pace and knew I could do it but it was just about putting it together. I did what I had to do, so I was really happy.”
In the morning, Verstappen had looked very much at home in his new car, beating Ricciardo by 0.097sec. But there was more misery for the demoted Kvyat, who struggled to keep up with his new Toro Rosso colleague Carlos Sainz. While Sainz made it to Q3 and ultimately qualified eighth, the Russian was eliminated in Q2.
