Van der Garde about first win Verstappen: "Then you really are a big man"

It's exactly four years ago today that Max Verstappen grabbed his first Grand Prix victory on his debut for Red Bull Racing. Kimi Raikkonen was beaten by the Limburger in a furiously exciting duel and together with Giedo van der Garde GPBlog looks back on that historic moment.

Verstappen unique in its kind

The 35-year old driver who competed in Formula 1 in the past mentions the very special moment and impressive performance of the now 22-year old Dutchman: "You do make a name for yourself when you are put from one team to another and win your first race. With all due respect, there aren't many people who do that and can't do that", says Van der Garde at GPBlog.

The Formula 1 analyst speaks from experience when he states that it is not easy to achieve maximum performance immediately after a transition with such a short lead time. "You get into a completely different environment, with a different engineer. You come to work with different engineers and you have a different steering wheel. There are so many things involved," says the driver who is competing in the WEC championship today. "Max just wins the race, then you really are a big man."

Verstappen wears sport in the Netherlands

From that moment on everyone in the Netherlands adores the Red Bull Racing driver. Verstappen did what no one thought possible. "I think we should be happy to have such a boy in the Netherlands. He wears the sport here. You suddenly see that the whole of the Netherlands has become a fan of motor racing, which is very special. Max is just a super talent", Van der Garde is sure.

Van der Garde campaigned for Caterham in the king's class of motorsport in 2013. He also knows how to be a highlight for himself. "There are actually two of them. The qualification at Spa-Francorchamps was amazing. In Q1 I finished third behind Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. And that with a car that was actually just 3.5 seconds too slow". In the rained out qualifying session in the Ardennes Van der Garde finished 14th. "And I think my best race was in Singapore (P16). That was insane, those are my two best moments".

Van der Garde sees F1 change

A lot has changed since he left Formula 1. Not only on the track, but also outside. "I think it has certainly changed positively, also with Liberty Media as new owner. They have brought the sport much more to social media and there may be a lot more press. It's not all that strict anymore and there is more openness about what happens in Formula 1", he sums up.

That has only benefited Formula 1 and its image, according to Van der Garde: "I think that has created a very positive vibe on the paddock. The cars have of course become faster and the teams are constantly looking to make the cars faster and better. I think they've made good steps in recent years."