Verstappen win 'sprinkles a bit of magic on sport' - Wolff
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff says Max Verstappen's Spanish Grand Prix victory has "sprinkled a bit of magic" on the sport and he is convinced it is only the first of many to come.
Verstappen capitalised on Mercedes' first lap woe to claim an historic win in Barcelona on Sunday, becoming the youngest person to win an F1 race and doing so in his first event with the Red Bull Racing team having been promoted from Scuderia Toro Rosso barely a week earlier.
It was a fairytale result for the 18-year-old and despite seeing his two drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, eliminated on the opening lap after they collided, Wolff was one of many to congratulate F1's newest winner.
"I want to add a word for Max; on a bad day for us, he sprinkled a bit of magic on the sport, so big congratulations to him on what I'm sure is only the first of his Grand Prix wins," Wolff remarked.
Meanwhile, McLaren-Honda sporting director Eric Boullier and Verstappen's old boss at Toro Rosso, Franz Tost were among the many others to pay homage to the young Dutchman.
"I'd like to congratulate Red Bull and Max for their first victory of the year. It's great to see that Max was well-prepared for such a big success and to achieve it so quickly is something extraordinary!" Tost noted.
Boullier added: "I want to take this opportunity to congratulate young Max, who today became the youngest Grand Prix winner in Formula 1 history, a record held for the past eight years by Sebastian [Vettel], for the five years before that by Fernando [Alonso], and for no fewer than 44 years before that by the founder of our company, the great Bruce McLaren."