RACE REPORT
“As a team, it was really a strong one for us, really good strategy, really
good pit stop; the time was perfect, the car felt really good. I felt I was
pretty on it. So it’s great to be here,” he said.
Verstappen managed to hold onto fourth and late in the race the
teenager showed great determination and skill in fending off sustained
attacks from a hard-charging Nico Rosberg, who was recovering for a midrace puncture.
After expertly placing his car in just the right spot to frustrate Rosberg’s
assaults, the Mercedes man looked to have found a way past ujnder DRS
on the run to the final chicane a few laps from home.
But Rosberg’s brakes let him down and he spun, leaving Verstappen
to sail past and take fourth place. Rosberg managed to keep going and
took fifth place.
Ricciardo was seventh having been held up by team-mate Verstappen
early on and then he dropped back during the pit stops.
Eighth place went to Nico Hulkenberg, while Carlos Sainz took an
excellent ninth place from 20th on the grid and Sergio Perez rounded out
the top ten.