Max Verstappen has named his debut race win and first championship as the best moments of his career with Red Bull so far, as the Dutch driver called the team his “second family”.
Verstappen – who this season has been forced to bat away speculation that he might be considering a move away from the team – has driven for Red Bull since 2016, when he was promoted from then-named Toro Rosso, switching seats in a straight swap with Daniil Kvyat.
He went on to win on his debut for the Milton Keynes outfit at the Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the youngest race winner in the history of the sport after holding off the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
Looking back to his first win as he spoke to Red Bull’s Talking Bull podcast, the Dutchman explained: “Of course, some people were still questioning if [the promotion] was the right move. Luckily that weekend went really well, so I was very happy with that. I think also for Helmut [Marko] at the time, he felt very happy with his decision to promote me.”