Verstappen 'not worried' about Honda unreliability
- Published on 14 Dec 2018 13:44
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Max Verstappen says that he is not worried about Honda's potential unreliability next season, claiming that he would rather the engine be consistently quick and unreliable than always slow.
Red Bull switch to Honda power next year, ending its long-standing relationship with Renault. The relationship between Red Bull and Renault has deteriorated in recent years, leaving Red Bull to take the decision to sign with Honda, who supplied power units to Toro Rosso in 2018.
The Honda engine has made gains over the last 12 months but is still not up to the efficiency of the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari. But as Verstappen is aiming for more race wins, he is hoping that the engine is more powerful than the Renault of late.
I think this year has already been pretty good," he told Sky Sports F1. "They have taken a lot of engines just because they could, because they were at the back or something happened. I prefer, maybe, to win a race and then blow up in one than be consistently slow."
"It all looks very promising but I want to be realistic," added Verstappen regarding the 2019 season. "First, we still need to build a car, and then the engine should be reliable as well, and powerful."
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Replies (9)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
No really... The engine is super reliable. Seriously, we're not worried. No really. It's not like Toro Rosso used a shitload of engines this year...
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Even though half of them were still usable, and they were a testmule? But I get the drift, and would appreciate if the RB camp would just shut up for once.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
@calle, I've been hearing that in certain quarters, but I haven't actually read it in the news. How do you know that those engines were still usable?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Its been confirmed by STR, Honda and the FIA. A bit of that is reporting from here, Sky and F1's own jurnalizts. And I did a jurnalizm myself on the subject. Bear in mind though that they only said they were still "fully functional", it says little about just how "fully functional" they were, but seeing as thats how the FIA said it, I think its safe to say they coulda creamed more out of them than they did.
sadosalo
Posts: 198
Max is realistic and agree better competitive than to follow the boring procession as in the last 5 years. Hamilton want's competition (LOL), here it comes in 2019. Max & LeClerc are fast and refuse to be a wingman as Bott ass the last 2 years, so sad for the F1 fans. Go RBR & Ferrari please and end this boring racing.
ringo
Posts: 3,633
nobodody said honda can go same level to mercedes but, in this rate they can be. 2019 stil be sort of develop year of 2020 but im sure there is willingness to be the fastest not as renault that already have the experience and knowledge but holding to much back to work rater on reliability but stil engine showed more unreliability then mercedes and ferrari.. better make step forward then standing stil
xoya
Posts: 583
Overall it's the same thing.
Guess he didn't read the story about a turtle and a rabbit.
Plus, Honda isn't much (if any) faster than Renault. They are on par at best/worst.
Yes, they MIGHT have the same hp as Mercedes one day, but I don't see Verstappen, Horner and Marko having that kind of patience.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
There is a direct link between budget an increase of performance . Honda and Redbull are both investing heavily in their joined project. I will actually be surprised if they don't have an massive performance increase. However we don't really have any idea how Ferrari and Mercedes are improving between seasons.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
And the particularly worrying bit is how Mercedes might improve, IMO. I think they can do more than they've already done. Honda may have an about equal sized base of operation, but the kinda advantage Ferrari and Merc' both now have will make it very hard for Renault and Honda to keep up. I'd say Honda and Renault were equal at the end, with minimal difference in pace and reliability, but its hard to tell. I think Honda did a wise thing employing more help, and Renault should probably follow suit. Hell, they dont even need to go outside their concern: Nissan probably know a thing or two that could benefit them.