Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen overcame a collision with Williams driver Valtteri Bottas and a drive-through penalty to achieve a fourth place result at the Hungaroring, the best finish of his young Formula One career.
The collision came after a safety car restart and damaged the 17-year-old’s front wing. However, after several drivers were involved in incidents that took themselves out of a good result late in the going, Verstappen found himself in fourth at the finish.
“I’m incredibly happy, to finish P4 is an incredible result,” said a jubilant Verstappen. “I think my second stint was quite good, and then with the safety car restart a lot of people in front me were touching each other – I even had a touch with Valtteri (Bottas). I destroyed my front wing and I even had to serve a drive-through penalty and from there on I thought my race was over.
“But then with five laps to go I asked my engineer for which position are we were racing and he said P4 and I was like ‘Where did that come from?’ I still can’t believe it.”
It was Toro Rosso’s best result since Sebastian Vettel’s fourth place at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, his final race with the junior team before he left for Red Bull Racing.
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
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