Ten years on from the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix that made him Formula 1's youngest race winner, Max Verstappen has admitted the chaos of his debut weekend in a Red Bull is almost a blur — and yet the emotion of that day still cuts through.
Ten years on from the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix that made him Formula 1's youngest-ever race winner, Max Verstappen has revisited the day that rewrote the script of his career — and the script of modern F1 with it.
Speaking to Red Bull as he was asked to choose ten races from his ten years with the team, the four-time world champion gravitated immediately to Barcelona 2016. The win came in his very first weekend as a Red Bull Racing driver, just days after a mid-season swap with Daniil Kvyat that was widely viewed as ruthless even by F1 standards.
"That was a crazy one for me," Verstappen said. "It was something really incredible. I'm going to be honest with you, I don't really remember much of it."
When he was asked to begin the retrospective with that very race, his answer was instinctive.
"The first one in Spain. Yeah, that was a crazy one. Of course, just being promoted to Red Bull and then jumping in, not really expecting anything, just trying to score good points."
The weekend turned in his favour at the start of lap one, when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg eliminated each other at Turn 4 — a collision that took both Mercedes out of the race and handed the lead, almost in a single sequence of corners, to a teenager driving his first race for a top team.
"After lap one, I think the opportunity was there for a podium," Verstappen recalled.
What followed was a 66-lap masterclass under extreme pressure. Kimi Raikkonen, a Ferrari world champion and one of the sport's most experienced drivers, spent the second half of the race shadowing the 18-year-old's Red Bull, looking for a way past on a circuit where overtaking has always been notoriously difficult.
"I had Kimi I think like 30 laps behind me trying to pass me," Verstappen said. "So yeah, there was a lot of pressure but at the end of the day we managed to keep it in the lead and, of course, very emotional first win, that's for sure."
The driver was scarcely an adult. Verstappen needed parental consent for some of the celebrations that followed, and he left Barcelona as Formula 1's youngest race winner — a record that, barring rule changes lowering the licensing age, looks unbreakable for the foreseeable future.
The lasting feeling, he admits, is one of disorientation as much as triumph. He stresses how little time he had to prepare for what was, in effect, a competitive debut in a winning car.
"It was so hectic the whole weekend already, or the week leading up to it," he said. "And then, also for me, not really knowing the car yet, the first time doing a race distance in it. It was just learning all the way."
A decade later, Verstappen has added four world titles, more than 60 race victories and a permanent place in F1's all-time conversation. The numbers tower over the kid who pulled off that win in Barcelona. But ask him what stands out, and the answer is simple.
"It's a long time for sure. That's how it feels like. But it's always good to see it again."
For Red Bull, the gamble of swapping Kvyat and Verstappen mid-season — a decision that looked brutal in the moment — was vindicated within four days. For Formula 1, the result of Spain 2016 was the official arrival of a generational talent, even if he himself remembers the day more as instinct than memory.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/verstappen-2016-spanish-gp-maiden-win-decade-on-reaction). Visit for full coverage.*