Verstappen enjoys spreading his wings at Red Bull

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Friday's practice sessions of the Spanish Grand Prix saw the first outing for Max Verstappen with Red Bull Racing following his promotion from the Toro Rosso sister team.

If the news of his abrupt swap over with Daniil Kvyat had originally come as a shock, there was no sign of any nerves or trepidation when the moment came to head out in his new company car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The 18-year-old Dutch driver was an impressive sixth fastest in FP1 - just one place behind his new team mate Daniel Ricciardo - and was eighth fastest in the afternoon session to confirm his competitiveness.

"I did a lot of procedures and it all went well," Verstappen said after the chequered flag. "I was enjoying it and getting used to the car still, but it is all going well.

"I was straight up there," he added, referring to his place on the timesheets before quickly adding: "It is not about lap times. I am enjoying it, that is the most important thing.

"I am still getting used to the car. I don’t know the full limits of the car yet. You can explain it more when you are on the limit," he said. "It is all about feelings. If you feel well in the car you can go to the limit.

"We are still getting used to it. The seat position is completely different and the functions on the steering wheel, so that is really a big difference."

And Verstappen dismissed concerns about the pressure he was under in the middle of the media spotlight this weekend, commenting that it had been worse for him last year when he made his Formula One début in Melbourne and in the process become the youngest driver to start a Grand Prix.

"I was used to [the media scrutiny] from last year from my first race, but now of course it is a new car," he said. "But I was not nervous at all. I just wanted to go out and experience the car."

Overall Verstappen gave himself seven out of ten for his first day in the car, and was looking forward to more time in the cockpit over the rest of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, dismissing any suggestions that he needed to make any sort of immediate statement of intent by beating Ricciardo in qualifying or the race.

"To be honest I don’t think it is up for me now to beat him, for me it is just getting used to the car. If I have a good feeling I will do my best, and from there on we will see what happens."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.