Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has described Max Verstappen’s early retirement from the Hungarian Grand Prix due to a loss of power as ‘no surprise’.
Verstappen had been running in fifth place before he experienced a loss of power exiting turn one at the beginning of lap seven, later confirmed to be an MGU-K failure.
Red Bull tried in vain to recover power to the car, but were forced to tell their driver to retire the car.Horner told Sky Verstappen had suffered an MGU-K failure, which he described as ‘no surprise’.
“Sometimes words betray you,” said Horner. “It’s cruel luck for Max. It’s an engine issue. I suppose no surprise, really. We think it’s the MGU-K.”
Red Bull, which have suffered a series of engine-related retirements in recent rounds, are will split from Renault at the end of the year. Horner expressed his dissatisfaction with their performance.
“We-pay multi millions of pounds for these engines for a first class or state-of-the-art product and you can see that it’s quite some way below that.
“It’s frustrating. We’ve still got Daniel [Ricciardo] in the race. I’ll let Cyril [Abiteboul] come up with the excuses after the race.”
A furious Verstappen asked his team for permission to blow the engine up as he retired from the race:
Verstappen: “Mate no power, no power.”
To Verstappen: “Yep, Mode one.”
Verstappen: “Mate, really?”
Verstappen: “Mate can I just go ahead? I don’t [censored by FOM] care if this engine blows up.”
To Verstappen: “Stop the car please on track Max.”
Verstappen “[Censored by FOM]. What a [censored by FOM] job all the [censored by FOM] time with this [censored by FOM]. Honestly.”
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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
Lauri (@f1lauri)
29th July 2018, 15:53
Good luck to Honda with dealing RBR and Toro Rosso next years. RBR was so slow yesterday when the engine power didn’t matter at all and today they are crying again…
w0o0dy
29th July 2018, 19:18
It seems the RB14 is pretty difficult to get up to speed in wet conditions.. there was never any talk about the lack of pace having anything to do with the power-unit.
Joao (@johnmilk)
29th July 2018, 16:13
That moment when you are excited even though you are going to have Honda engines next year
Patrick (@anunaki)
29th July 2018, 16:20
Renault is not showing the progression in both performance and reliability.
Redbull must be going mad. I know Max is. He’ll probably get a 10 place penalty in his home race at Spa.
marcelh
29th July 2018, 17:08
Actually renault is getting better in performance and reliability. Renault has always said that there program is to compete for the WC in 2020 with half the budget that ferrari/mercedes have, and that is what they are working towards.
It is only that RBR tries to use it as if it can deliver mercedes/ferrari power now which it can not do.
If the renault engine can do 15000 rpm for 60% of the time don’t try to do 15000 rpm for 70% of the time cause it will go “poef” .
Joao (@johnmilk)
29th July 2018, 17:20
Max retires in what lap exactly?
Renault stayed still in the development race, maybe even made a step backwards
Patrick (@anunaki)
29th July 2018, 17:20
They’re getting further behind so relatively they’re not improving
The overdriving stuff you’re talking about I never heard from anyone involved so I don’t believe that.
marcelh
29th July 2018, 18:58
Well live in the illusion that an engine can do unlimited rpm at a unlimited time without wearing out. Hint just think why they replace engines after 7 races or so. They wear our.
w0o0dy
29th July 2018, 19:23
Sorry but you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Most of the time it’s NOT the internal combustion engine that goes bang. THAT could be a result of pushing the engine more than advised. But that’s not the case. It’s the Hybrid stuff that is well below par and goes kaput regularly. French and electricity… It has always been a problem I’m their road cars.. so why would it be different for racing engines?
That hybrid stuff from Renault is pretty awful.
Ronald (@)
29th July 2018, 20:58
You live!
Dale
29th July 2018, 16:38
Deal with it Horner.
Next year will be more of the same with a different supplier.
marcelh
29th July 2018, 19:01
It really sounds like RBR payed for an plastic plate and expects a golden plate. If they didn’t get what they payed for there would be a lawsuit already.
Drop Sochi
30th July 2018, 6:26
No, they wont be paying Millions for junk, they will get their junk free, a big difference.
throw
29th July 2018, 16:44
Max’s English has come along leaps and (censored by FOM) bounds since teaming up with Daniel.
Mike
29th July 2018, 17:17
I feel bad for almost any team/driver that experiences engine failure. For Dan and Max, I feel bad.
In the case of Marko and Horner, with all the Renault bashing they have done over the past years, I don’t give it a second thought. Arrogant pair to say the least.
Karma is the first word that comes to mind.
Patrick (@anunaki)
29th July 2018, 17:22
Well they do pay a lot of money for it so they actually have a point
Pyon (@pyon)
29th July 2018, 17:26
@anunaki no they dont, this is F1 not wall mart. They are entitled to nothing with their money and can switch provider if they want, or better try to develop their own engine: but they know they cannot even do half of what they are paying for even if they invest all their money in it.
Patrick (@anunaki)
29th July 2018, 17:49
No they couldn’t switch. Only Renault wanted to give them engines until this year.
Pyon (@pyon)
29th July 2018, 17:58
@anunaki precisely, this is karma they bring this on themselves over the past 10 years. So they have absolutely no point talking about “having a better engine for the money they pay”, this is ridiculous at best.
Patrick (@anunaki)
29th July 2018, 18:29
I think it’s just a sign of current F1 times. Where 2 car manufacturers have F1 in a lock because they have the best power unit and will not supply to competitive teams.
Hopefully Honda delivers next year
Stan
29th July 2018, 18:57
The thing that irks me the most about Marko and his puppet is Renault was the provider of the engines that won them 4 championships.
When Renault started having issues due to the new regulations, RBR betrayed and belittled them to no end and even rebadged their engine – the ultimate insult.
It won’t bother me to have them reside in mediocrity or at least to see Renault outshine Honda.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
29th July 2018, 17:23
Imagine Hamilton uttering those words and the deluge of vile comments it would have drawn.
When the German TV crew found him he still hadn’t seen the team and he looked like was about to start crying at any moment.
Good to see the guy hates losing out and he actually has feelings about it. Just wish other drivers were allowed to show some emotion too.
Pyon (@pyon)
29th July 2018, 17:59
Was Max runing with the old spec MGU-K that already failed on Ric’s car?
falken (@falken)
29th July 2018, 18:38
Yes. They refuse to use the upgraded, more reliable ones on offer
w0o0dy
29th July 2018, 19:27
Renault refused to give Ricciardo alle the parts Redbull asked for the previous race.. And Max would not take penalties unless he needed to. That just makes sense. And seeing the McLarens and Renaults beside the track several times (although sometimes in practice) using the new one brings nothing.
Vaios (@vaiosp)
29th July 2018, 18:00
:) And just like that, next year McLaren will once more have the “worst engine” in the grid!! :) :) :)
Stan
29th July 2018, 18:59
Read Pyon’s post above…RBR may well have done it to themselves.
Baasbas
29th July 2018, 18:56
Ooooh that hurt. I shamelessly admit I laughed, but it still hurt
Baasbas
29th July 2018, 18:57
@vaiosp
Matn
29th July 2018, 19:24
Some comment here are very shortsighted.
Max didn’t upgrade to the new spec cause it would cost him a grid penalty doing so.
They may use 3 a year, halfway through the season they already used those and each new one will become a gridpenalty. Ricciardo has used the complete maximum of all 6 components, they will suffer from quite a few penalties the second half of the season…. the reason Max kind of lost his cool… it’s just rubbish compared to the much more reliable (and faster) Ferrari and Mercedes components. Renault is just a league below… B-quality.
RB and liberty media chose wisely to make deal with Honda for TR this year, RBR really had nowhere to than to stick with Renault and Ferrari and Mercedes will no deliver the goods.
RBR pays top prices for sub quality, on top Renault isn;t very cooperative in supplying the parts when RBR askes for them (German GP), the promised ‘party mode’ from Renault is a joke compared to Ferrari and Mercedes.
Hopefully Honda will be cooperative to work with RBR as a team, McLaren forced their ‘slim-fit’ principle to much on Honda.
Pyon (@pyon)
29th July 2018, 22:25
No, they did not fit the new MGU because they cannot cool it down well enough, thanks to their amasing chassis… Funny to then read this “McLaren forced their ‘slim-fit’ principle to much on Honda”
Ronald (@)
29th July 2018, 21:14
I already dreamed about RBR’s Honda Engine for next year! It was astonishing fast and easily keeping up with Ferrari and Mercedes upon pre-season testing in Barcelona! Then I woke up…
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
29th July 2018, 22:25
“Ronald …. Ronald … wake up. You’l be late. Get dressed, time to go to school. And it’s raining too….”
Yep, night-mares ain’t no fun. Haunting at times.
RBR and Honda … dare to dream.
Am in there with ya and hope and expect that Honda will demonstrate their development skill and provide a competitive reliable Power Unit for next year. Given their background, time in the game and the corporate culture for technical domination, not a safe bet, but likely the best opportunity that RBR has.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
29th July 2018, 23:17
Ahah, well, could also be true, but probably not from the start, however red bull does NOT need engine parity with them, just something roughly competitive, their chassis will do the rest. Currently the engine is just too weak for it to make up at power tracks, but as you can see from ricciardo in the end here, or monaco, or for a few laps in austria, or in bahrain before they retired, they’re competitive in race trim, so an average between ferrari and renault engine would be enough to seriously compete imo.
TFLB (@tflb)
29th July 2018, 22:27
Horner was having a go at Renault even when their engine was crucial to the blown diffusers that helped them win 4 world titles… so ungracious. If I was Renault I’d have been sorely tempted to leave them high and dry without an engine at some point in recent years. Plus RB have always seemed to have more problems with the engine than other Renault teams, so you’ve got to think their design at least partially contributes to the issues.
DonJJ
30th July 2018, 0:27
I agree with you, the RedBull are so ungracious. Blaming Renault for all the mess is quite unfair and injustice. What rights they have to say it is Renault fault openly when they don’t even use Renault engine naming, instead they call them self as Red Bull-TAG Heuer. Put the blame on TAG then as they are the one funded the engine for them.
Looking at other Renault team that have better reliability, I believe Red bull maybe re-tune the engine them self, hence they should be responsible for its backward development.
Tricky (@tricky)
30th July 2018, 15:48
Red Bull’s web site says the engine is a ” ASTON MARTIN RED BULL RACING-TAG HEUER RB14 – 2018 ”
Looks like there are plenty of people to blame there, and Renault isn’t one of them ;-)
https://redbullracing.redbull.com/car/rb14
Drop Sochi
30th July 2018, 6:30
No he wasn’t bashing Renault when they were winning, they were getting masses of praise at every race, watch the last 9 pressers of the V8 era for comments.
James
30th July 2018, 2:30
Listen up Honda:
You’d better get it right by next year or you this will be happening to you.
I know it’s been great working with Torro Rosso but RBR is a different beast.
If you think Zak and Nando were tough on you, Marko, Horner and golden child will make your life a living hell.
I’m betting they are hanging onto those TAG badges just in case.
Good luck!!