Verstappen ready to trade engine penalties for performance
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen is ready to pay the price in the form of grid penalties for Honda’s improved performance this season.
The Japanese manufacturer has supplied both Red Bull and Toro Rosso with an updated power unit for Baku, with the changes eating in to the engine allocation of both teams’ drivers.
Verstappen claims to be unfazed however by the spectre of potential grid demotions materializing down the road as Red Bull’s exceeds its engine quota.
“Actually I’m really happy because they keep pushing really hard to bring updates and that’s always good,” said the Dutchman in Baku.
“I think I showed last year than even when you start in the back you can still finish on the podium, for example like in Austin, so I don’t think it a major problem.
“I’m happier if we can say at the end of the season that we really closed the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of power because we used a few more engines. It’s fine.”
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Verstappen emphasized the fact that Honda’s new-spec unit would provide better reliability rather than performance.
“It’s mainly just about reliability and reliability of the engine, so I guess it will be a little bit better in terms of performance but like nothing massive,” he added.
“It can always be better. That’s why they push for an even better engine concept.
“I’m happy that they did it because hopefully we can run that engine a little bit longer compared to the first one, which we can still use.”
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The 21-year-old is buoyed by Honda’s progress, insisting the Japanese company’s efforts have allowed it to bridge the gap to Mercedes. However, Ferrari still has the upper hand in terms of sheer power.
“I think we are closer to Mercedes, but it’s always difficult to really say if it’s better, because everybody is always improving.
“For our side at the moment is that we are able to maximise the result all the time, which has been a third and twice fourth, without retiring, so that is sometimes more important than maybe gaining a tenth but then breaking down all the time.
“I think in the race in general we are a bit more competitive so again, in qualifying it’s mainly just Ferrari that stands out, like it’s massive.
“Like I said before, they found something there that really works, so it’s good because it gives motivation to Honda to work even harder, which they do anyway.”
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