"I nearly started crying" - When Max Verstappen made his feelings known about his first F1 career win

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen once mentioned how he almost cried after winning his first F1 race, at the 2016 Spanish GP. The Dutch driver had gotten promoted to the senior team ahead of the race in Barcelona and replaced Daniil Kvyat from Toro Rosso.

The 18-year-old had qualified P4 behind his then-teammate Daniel Ricciardo and inherited P2 after the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg took each other out on Lap 1.

After getting a favorable strategy from Red Bull in the race, he was able to hold off the challenge from the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel and win the race in the first time of asking with the Austrian team.

In his documentary 'Whatever It Takes' released in 2020, Max Verstappen reflected on his emotional first win in F1 and said:

"My first win was....I nearly started crying. That normally doesn't happen to me. It was a beautiful moment."

During an appearance on the Talking Bull podcast, Max Verstappen spoke about his race engineer GP Lambiase's reaction to the moment and said (via F1.com):

“I think also GP was completely shocked. I remember the radio messages like, ‘I can’t believe this’. I think everyone was a bit like, ‘What just happened?’, including myself. It’s a weekend you’ll never forget because you work to get into F1, you dream of being on the podium one day, you dream of, of course, being on the top step."

Max Verstappen's race engineer reflects on the Dutchman's first win in F1

Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase stated that it was "incredible" that the Red Bull driver was able to manage a high-pressure situation so well, given his tender age.

While appearing on the podcast, the Anglo-Italian said:

"We got to the race event and I remember we hit the ground running, we were competitive immediately, and we had no major dramas with the balance.

"It was really just incredible that he was able to manage – the rear-left tire would have been the limitation that year – that rear-left tire for as long as he did, keeping such an experienced driver like Kimi behind. It was my first race win as well, so it was a double whammy – a really good day!”

The duo went on to win many more races as a partnership and are currently on the verge of winning their fourth consecutive world championship with Red Bull.

Over the years, Max Verstappen and GP Lambiase have become a formidable driver-engineer pair on the grid and are known for their straightforward and back-and-forth dynamic on the team radio during the races. But they have been able to resolve their issues amicably off-track as was evident during the 2024 Hungarian GP when they had several heated arguments on the radio.