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Verstappen victory like a fairy-tale

Cape Town - Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has compared 18-year-old Max Verstappen winning the Spanish Grand Prix to a fairy-tale after he became the youngest driver in history to win a F1 race.

Verstappen, who broke Sebastian Vettel’s record of being the youngest ever GP winner, crossed the chequered flag at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 1:41:40.017, while keeping 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen behind him in the process.

With Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashing out early on Lap 1, Horner praised the Dutch youngster for taking full advantage of the incident and added that his composure and calmness at such a young age means that he definitely has bright future in the sport.

"He defended incredibly well against a seasoned pro like Kimi," the Red Bull race director told ESPN.

"To score his first grand prix victory now becoming the youngest grand prix victor on his debut for the team is sort of fairy-tale stuff.

"I think the biggest aspect of his performance has been his calmness.

“He's obviously got a lot of capacity when he's driving the car and even, when we are all getting tense with the last five laps to go because the tyres were at the end of their life and he's got Kimi breathing down his neck with the obvious advantages [of DRS overtaking aid] and he just very calmly on the radio and said 'please could you ask Charlie to deal with the blue flags swiftly' ... there was no agitation in his voice, there was no panic, there was no tension and it was a young man who was completely in control of what he was doing and that's what he has done from the moment he stepped in the car."

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