Max Verstappen says his Renault power unit was not performing the way he wanted it to on Friday but was satisfied with its performance after heading both practice sessions in Mexico.
“It’s been good,” said Verstappen. “In my short runs it was still not perfect, the engine was still not behaving like I wanted.“It was doing some weird noises and [not] behaving so I couldn’t really do the lap that I wanted. But it still was quick enough so it was a very satisfying day.”
Verstappen came to a stop on the track before the end of the second practice session. However the team believes the problem was a hydraulic failure rather than a power unit problem. Team principal Christian Horner confirmed Verstappen has a spare engine which he can use if needed without taking a penalty.
After the first day of running the 2017 winner said Red Bull appears to be “more competitive than last year”.
However he expects Mercedes and Ferrari to come back stronger on Saturday after under-performing on the first day at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“At the moment it’s looking really good but I’m sure they will work a lot overnight to try and improve as well.”
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2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th October 2018, 23:47
He can go even faster! scary that red bull!
Aldoid
27th October 2018, 1:13
Verstappen for pole tomorrow… likely DNF on Sunday…
LosD (@losd)
27th October 2018, 8:24
It’s around 50/50 on if the the DNF will be down to the engine or the VER having a blow-up.
Mick
27th October 2018, 3:45
BS. The engine is running fine – even the Renault team was fast today.
VER is criticizing the engine because of the friction between RBR and Renault.
He’s as classless as Marko.
Sam (@)
27th October 2018, 4:08
+1
JohnH (@johnrkh)
27th October 2018, 5:48
May I suggest that he is being led along,encouraged somewhat by Marko/Horner.
Todfod (@todfod)
27th October 2018, 5:59
Completely agree. The way I see it –
Verstappen has an engine failure -> Renault is rubbish
Verstappen finishes P2 in Singapore -> Renault is rubbish
Verstappen leads the field in Mexico -> Renault is rubbish
On the other hand –
Honda move to their 10th power unit for the season -> Honda has amazing potential
Honda makes little to no progress with their power unit upgrade -> Honda is ahead of Renault
Honda drivers start at the back of the grid in the US -> Honda’s the best thing since sliced bread
I’m in dilemma. I really want to see Verstappen & red Bull take the fight to Lewis and Mercedes in the near future. I think it will be great to see these two go head to head for wins every race weekend. It would be great for the sport. On the other hand, I really want to see Honda pull off one of their usual epic fails… I would love to see how Horner, Marko and Verstappen react to it and for how long they stay patient and civil.
Lance
27th October 2018, 13:43
I’m with you on this..
Matn
27th October 2018, 7:01
Verstappen mentioned right after his fastest run in FP the engine made some strange noises, in Singapore he nearly headed his steeringwheel, you can’t simpy label it as rubbish
HJ
27th October 2018, 11:18
The rift between RBR and Renault already started years back, even before VER joined the team. And it’s not only the lack of horsepower and reliability issues. Renault has been sloppy sometimes (at one racing weekend, can’t recall what race, parts for the engine of RIC were still at the Renault factory). I can understand the switch to Honda.
What I can’t understand is how they communicate (RBR, including Max) in the media about it. They clearly made a business decision and still have some succes with Renault. No need to get all emotional about it and take it to the media like this.
Maybe it’s part of their aggressive aproach. They have plenty of time to think about the communication strategy.
anon
27th October 2018, 14:33
HJ, mind you, that is not to say that Honda have not been without faults either, even now.
Officially, they are changing Gasly’s engine on calibration grounds, but unofficially the word in the Japanese press is that the real reason for the change is because there were concerns over whether Gasly’s engine might have defective components after they found that another engine of the same specification that they had built at the same time, when they ran it in on the dyno, failed prematurely.
HJ
27th October 2018, 18:56
@Anon, that’s true. We have to wait and see what Honda is bringing next year.
They can rack up a ton of grid penalties this year. Next year they can’t afford to have these kind of problems.
Pyon (@pyon)
27th October 2018, 12:45
This kid is as fast driving a car as stupid when he talks… I am so fed up of him talking rubish of Renault no matter what is actually hapenning with his car. A bit of class would do him well, I mean at this stage even when he is making a driving mistake he find a way to put it on the engine.
I really hope Honda will do very well next year, I would be gutted for them if they move from the atrocious McLaren to the horrible RBR. Those 2 teams lack class and respect for their supplier, ironically for something they cannot build themselves. Pathetic.