Red Bull Maxed out in China!

Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen started this afternoon's Chinese Grand prix from 16^th on the grid, the young Dutchman moving up three places from his 19^th qualifying position due to penalties for other drivers.

Climbing into his RB13 and putting it into its grid slot, Max never dreamed that he would end today's second round of the 2017 championship season on the podium, but he did, when, after a brilliant drive through the field, he crossed the line in a remarkable third place.

Voted driver of the day by various media outlets, Max was thrilled to move up 13 places and even included a late battle with his own teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who was vying for the third step himself.

"That was a very special race. When I woke up this morning I never expected to be on the podium. It was a very good first lap, I passed nine cars I think which is very positive,” he said. “The conditions really helped me get past the cars as quick as I could, that was important as I knew it would only dry up and get tougher to pass. I always enjoy driving in the wet so I made the most of the fun conditions early on. I think in the first eleven laps I got up to seventh place which set me up for a strong finish.”

“We were a bit unsure of how the balance of the car would be towards the end of the race as I didn't run much yesterday in Qualifying and the temperature is a lot lower today. We had quite a bit of understeer but just about managed to hold on to third place. These balance issues combined with being within two seconds of another car in the closing stages of the race made it really hard to drive, there were blue flags out but I still couldn't get past, this needs looking into.”

“The battle with Daniel at the end was hard as my car was not fun to defend in. I'm glad we hung on and obviously it was a great race to watch and for the team. I think on pure pace in the dry we are still a bit slow for a podium but all things considered today we definitely MAXED it out."

By finishing third, Max gave his Red Bull Racing team their 100th podium finish.