Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the technical problem which put Max Verstappen out of the Austrian Grand Prix has been seen by Honda before.
Verstappen was running second behind eventual winner Valtteri Bottas when he retired early on with a suspected power unit failure. “It’s currently under investigation together with Honda,” said Horner. “So as soon as we have some conclusions we’ll let you know.“It’s not something that we haven’t seen previously.”
Both Mercedes drivers had to manage problems with their cars later in the race. Horner believes Verstappen would have had a chance to win if he hadn’t retired.
“I think a win could have been on the cards today for Max,” he said. “He was holding pace with Valtteri.
“You could see towards the end of the stint Valtteri started to get into some tyre problems. We would have stopped under the pace car, taken the hard tyre that everybody did. And then on the second Safety Car, would Mercedes have stayed out? We would have done the opposite to whatever they did.
“So you just don’t know but I think strategically we were sharp, we were very strong today. It’s a shame we have no points to show for it.”
Verstappen’s team mate Alexander Albon also retired with a power unit-related problem. “Again, we need Honda to come back to us with the full details on that,” said Horner. “But a full investigation is going on.”
2020 F1 season
- Pictures: Wrecked chassis from Grosjean’s Bahrain fireball crash to go on display
- Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
- F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
- Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
- F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers
Jere (@jerejj)
5th July 2020, 19:27
The Power of Dreams.
OEL F1 (@oel-f1)
5th July 2020, 21:07
The power of GP2.
Chaitanya
6th July 2020, 11:43
In their dreams Albon also won the race with failed PU.
DAllein (@)
5th July 2020, 19:54
I would say it is all Karma, but now we know it is also called Honda!
erikje
5th July 2020, 23:45
With two merc engine failures and two morelimping home and one Renault down, its not uncommon it seems
Only the underpowered ferarris survived.
Azmo (@azmo)
5th July 2020, 22:23
Any chance of a championship fight dead in the water, such a shame
kenji
6th July 2020, 2:58
How unusual to see a Mercedes win?
Todfod (@todfod)
6th July 2020, 6:49
Honda’s back! They spent a season in unusual form where they were actually relatively competitive and reliable… but it was only a matter of time before they get back to the usual form where they are investigating issues and lacking power.
It’s a shame Red Bull isn’t going to ever be favourites for the title with this engine in the back.
Yoga667
6th July 2020, 18:12
Imagine to hate Honda so much, probably because of Alonso’ bad seasons. LOL, what a sore loser. We all should be wishing well to all motorist, for the sake of good races.
Dale
6th July 2020, 11:48
So, Red Bull might end up leaving Austria with their PU allocation used up and facing penalties already.
And this current engine version is now locked in for the rest of the 2020 season.
Let’s see how long the Honda praise lasts.
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
6th July 2020, 12:16
You final point is quite pertinent, if these were Renault PUs the whining would be truly unbearable!
1840genius
6th July 2020, 16:05
Guys, 9 out of 20 cars retired from the race, which in itself is bad. To echo someone’s words above, Mercedes and Renault engines also failed. Even Bottas and Hamilton were struggling. The Alpha Tauris had no engine problems so don’t crucify Honda just yet