Jos Verstappen: 'I was nervous...'

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Jos Verstappen admits he was nervous watching his son Max leading the Spanish Grand Prix in the closing stages.

18-year-old Verstappen became the youngest race winner in F1 history by winning Sunday's race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on his Red Bull debut. With his son having to hold off Kimi Raikkonen for more than 30 laps on one set of tyres, Jos Verstappen said he was worrying during the final stint.

“I was nervous," Verstappen said. "I was hoping that the tyres stayed alive and watching him very carefully, watching the car, if he had too much oversteer or not but he kept everything under control. Everybody was struggling.

"Raikkonen was struggling with his rear tyres, you could see that the last three laps were difficult for him but we all know Raikkonen as well, he can go for it on the last lap. But I think it was a fair race. Fantastic.”

And Verstappen praised Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko for having the faith to promote such a young driver so quickly.

“Life is a risk. I think we all knew the qualities of Max. I think Red Bull knows the qualities of Max, they analysed him really well. For me it was clear that we had to be here. I have to thank Helmut for this because he really made the decision to swap and I must say I have to give him all the credit to have this opportunity.”

Verstappen also said he would step back from the limelight and give less media interviews now his son is driving for a top team, but will continue to hold a management role.

“It’s true but this is a very special moment. The first win is always very special. But not only that, also the way he won the race, to stay cool, the way he was racing…

“Now [the job] just starts. The moment he arrived at this team, for him it starts. For me the job is done? No I don’t think so. I try to manage to be in the right direction and be with the right people at the right moment. I think we have done quite well so far.”

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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.