Although Max Verstappen was quick to point out the challenges he faced in today's Spanish grand Prix, from outside the cockpit it looked like one of the championship leader's easiest Formula 1 victories.
Todays' win neatly bookends the 25-year-old's career to date, with his first win coming at this same venue in 2016 when he won his first race with Red Bull after being promoted form the Toro Rosso squad.
It marks his 40th appearance on the top of the podium, and the fifth in a season where it looks increasingly possible that the team will sweep every single one of the 22 races this season.
“It’s a big pleasure to drive with a car like this,” he said. “I think it showed again today.
“We had another strong weekend, and that’s of course what I’d like to see for myself and the team,” he added. “Hopefully we can just keep that up throughout the year.”
Verstappen had swept all three practice sessions and then claimed pole position in qualifying, although he had to work hard when the lights went out to prevent Carlos Sainz from challenging into the first corner.
“I had the harder compound, of course,” he said in parc ferme. “I knew the start was maybe going to be a bit tricky - going round the outside in turn 1 is always quite difficult - but luckily nothing happened.”
Verstappen opted to start the race on medium tyres while Sainz and the majority of others had a slight edge on the faster soft compound. But Verstappen felt that the outcome proved they had made the right call.
“We had quite a lot of different tyre strategies out there. I think for most of the race we were on the right one," he said. "But a win here, it’s incredible.”
In fact it was on the second stint on the hard tyres that Verstappen hit problems with overheating, and was relieved to have a big enough lead to make a pit stop for a final set of softs.
Verstappen had been repeatedly warned for exceeding track limits during the race and was even shown the driving standards flag meaning that one more recurrent would result in a penalty..
With victory already certain, race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase tried to get Verstappen to calm down and take no risks. The driver's characteristic response was to floor it anyway, and seize the bonus point for the fastest lap.
Just seven races into the 22-event calendar, Verstappen already leads the drivers championship by 53 points from his team mate Sergio Perez who had been unable to battle his way onto the podium after a disappointing qualifying.
It was however a good recovery for Perez after his nightmare weekend last time in Monaco, and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner felt that the widening points gap between the drivers might actually prove beneficial all round.
“Being Max Verstappen’s team-mate, there’s not a driver out there I believe that would’ve beaten Max in that car today,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.
"Now there is that separation in the points, that may take the pressure off [Checo] a little and the expectation that he’s putting on himself. He needs to let go of that and be free to drive.”
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