Max Verstappen explains 'horrendous' moment before reflecting on Red Bull high

Max Verstappen has revealed that staying calm following a "horrendous" start allowed him to navigate his way to a historic win and turn the tables on a "complicated and tough" season for himself and Red Bull.

Verstappen started from pole but lost the lead off the line when his car suffered a loss of power as he dropped the clutch, leading to him falling behind Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell into Turn 1.

Like many others, Red Bull had opted for intermediate tyres for the standing start following a rain delay, but Verstappen's troubled getaway undid any grid advantage.

The four-time F1 champion fought back through the field before a safety car, triggered by Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas going off into the gravel, turned the race in his favour.

Red Bull pitted Verstappen for softs under the safety car, while Mercedes fitted mediums to race leader Antonelli, a call that proved decisive once racing resumed.

Verstappen used the extra grip from the softer compound to pass Antonelli into Turn 1 at the restart, pulling clear before tyre degradation could become a factor.

Asked about his reaction to the disastrous start, Verstappen admitted he had already expected trouble.

"I was not surprised because my start was horrendous," he said. "Again, dropping the clutch and not having power. The engine just completely died on me.

"But then you just have to settle in, try not to overreact as well, just slot in, and try to keep your position.

"The race is long, a lot of things can happen and, step by step, I could close the gap. And then I had quite a nice battle on the slicks with Kimi. It was quite slippery in some phases of the corner, but it was nice."

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Verstappen - 'Fantastic feeling'

Verstappen eventually crossed the line 2.307 seconds clear of Antonelli, with Lewis Hamilton completing the podium in third for Ferrari.

Reflecting on the scale of the achievement, which marks the first win for the power unit developed from scratch at Milton Keynes in tandem with Ford, Verstappen said: "Very special for us.

"We had a very complicated and tough start to the year with all sorts of problems and just not being competitive enough.

"But throughout the year, the team has been working very hard to understand our issues and bring good performance upgrades to the car and make it more driveable.

"Step by step, we've been getting closer and closer. This whole weekend, we've really been in good form.

"The race was quite complicated. It was not made easy for us in terms of all the calls that we had to make and then the safety car at the end, but we kept cool, and we made all the right calls with the tyres.

"So very enjoyable to win here and also have our first victory for our own engine. It's an incredible project with a lot of partners and a lot of people who are dedicated to being where we are now. So, yeah, fantastic feeling."