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Max Verstappen says Honda's extensive testing is ensuring that Red Bull is suffering from less mechanical failures this year.
In 2018, the energy drink squad had a number of car issues which mainly affected Verstappen's former teammate Daniel Ricciardo during the races.
Verstappen has enjoyed strong reliability this year and has finished every Grand Prix so far, a streak that runs back to the Belgian Grand Prix last year.
MORE: Ferrari driver situation similar to Red Bull in 2014 - Ricciardo | Marko: Red Bull had to give Albon a chance
However, the Dutchman says that the team never knew the limit of its car when working with former partner Renault - something it has been able to improve on with Honda.
"The thing is, yes we did have mechanical failures from the car, not the power unit last year," Verstappen said. "But they also came because we never had the ability to test them to the limit.
"Honda is spending so much time on the dyno and we also find out the limits of our parts from the car. We never had that before so we never knew if our parts were strong enough or not. The only way you find out is by retiring.
"The whole preparation before you get into a season now is so much better. That's why I think the car and the power unit are very reliable."
Red Bull and Honda in a "fully committed" partnership
With two wins and three further podiums so far this year, Verstappen hailed the relationship between Red Bull and Honda, stating that they are "fully committed" to each other.
"Everything is open, we fully work together," the 21-year-old stated. "We try to help them, they try to help us how to do things better. We are fully committed to each other.
"They are winners, we are winners, we both want to win together. So we are always trying to get the best out of it."
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
959 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (8)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Don't jinx it. It's proven to be bad luck with Honda
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Almost a story in here somewhere. Sorry, not in the camp of Max said it so it must be news worthy.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I'm going to go by video game logic, and say that Max is praising the engine team so that he gets great cost reduction for PU development! ;)
Kean
Posts: 692
This praise of Honda is getting tiresome. RBR never praised Renault back when they were winning championships, so that's not their habit. It feels to me like Honda has this in their contract with RBR. Like, "All the crap we had to take from McLaren (which we deserved but are pretending not to) has to be undone by RBR, so at every turn you have to praise us and never speak ill of us or find another partner". Now I love Honda, but that love extends only to Civic, Accord, HRV and NSX.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
That's not entirely true. They did praise them pretty frequently, and their relationship used to be so good that Renault had some RB sticker on their ads back then (along with a "Vroom" and a F1 champion sticker). The deterioration, and lack of praise, is a pretty recent thing. That said, RB is always specific that they are winning thanks to themselves, and that is a trend I'm sure we'll see here too. Considering RB all in all have pretty strong ties with Honda, it could show in F1 aswell for longer if the trend continues, but that we'll have to see.
Now that said, F off, Honda. The Urban is nonsensical and will hopefully flop. The last thing we need is an iPhone of cars.
Kean
Posts: 692
But it feels true, friggin' RBR and Honda, they rub me the wrong way.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
This is where I'd usually go for an inuendo joke, but I'll spare ya. ;)
I'm fine with them. Yeah, a lot of uptalking from RB, but that's what they are like. Honda tend to keep their heads down. But that's just me. :)
boudy
Posts: 1,168
To be fair Renault are still struggling with reliability. Honda has improved reliabity and certainly they will still need to work at it. From what i can make out is that they are getting guidance from Mario illien. Performance seems to be really getting better.