Max Verstappen was more frustrated about his latest engine failure in the Tuscan Grand Prix than the crash which ended his race.
The Red Bull driver slowed immediately as he accelerated away at the start of the race. He was then hit by Pierre Gasly and Kimi Raikkonen on the approach to Luco, the second corner.Verstappen had reported a problem with his engine on his reconnaissance lap on the way to the grid. The team tried to fix it prior to the start. However Verstappen said the problem returned as soon as he pulled away again.
“It wasn’t [fixed],” he told Sky. “Already on the formation lap the engine stalled.”
It is Verstappen’s second engine fault in as many races. “Once I went flat out the engine had a similar problem, I guess, to what we had in Monza, so there was no power there,” he explained.
“Then you get into the situation where you are in the middle of the track and it’s quite easy to get involved with a crash.”
Verstappen said he wasn’t disappointed about the collision which ended his race.
“I don’t even know what happened,” he said. “I just got hit from behind.
“I’m not disappointed about that, we shouldn’t even be in that position. It’s just really disappointing that again we have a retirement.”
“I’m really not happy at the moment but you can’t change it,” he added.
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Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
13th September 2020, 16:06
Redbull….no engine will ever be good enough. Renault engine would have bee been better but Horner burnt that bridge.
Robbie (@robbie)
13th September 2020, 16:42
Ridiculous comment. Max and RBR have been well ahead of Renault and still are since their switch to Honda.
F1oSaurus (@)
13th September 2020, 17:06
@robbie Well in 2016 they were P2 in the championship on when there were still 3 top teams. Even the horrible fail of the 2017 car didn’t perform much worse over a full season then they are doing with Honda.
The team took a hit after they lost Ricciardo though. So maybe that makes Renault look better.
Marty
13th September 2020, 17:17
Ferrari cheated at least two seasons. First it was the Battery system. Then Fuel flow. So Red Bull hasn’t done that bad last few seasons if you remove cheaters from the standings.
F1oSaurus (@)
13th September 2020, 20:51
They haven’t done any better either. They only seem to be slipping back.
They really need a more experienced and solid driver like Ricciardo to help develop the car. Verstappen can drive fast (if he doesn’t break the car), but he clearly is not good at helping with car development. Or with helping pick a setup. Both in Hungary and Monza Red Bull were suddenly a second off the pace and had no idea what was wrong.
Matn
14th September 2020, 7:18
@F1oSaurus,
According to Ricciardo, Verstappen was actually better and faster in setting up the car…he made it go faster in quali and races as well…. try again
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2020, 7:28
Yeah lol, Ricciardo said that at that ONE race where indeed he used Verstappen’s setup. It’s adorable that you try to pretend that that was a trend. Really cute.
That’s not the point though. This is about Verstappen’s inability to help the team move forward. Feedback to actually improve the car. When Ricciardo was there at least the car could be competitive from the start of the season. Now they come out with a car that is potentially fastest, but unpredictable and then Verstappen cannot figure out to get the maximum out of it.
Verstappen is lucky Ferrari has dropped away from the fight. Otherwise he would be again fighting for P3 to P6. At least now he can score a lucky P2 now and then.
Edvaldo
13th September 2020, 17:19
why ridiculous? He’s talking about engines. Renault seems to have a better reliabilty in the least.
Robbie (@robbie)
13th September 2020, 18:31
Why ridiculous? Because that ship has sailed, and anything now is using the perfection of hindsight, not that we need it to see clearly what happened anyway. Renault had failed RBR for too long and they finally had had enough and the opportunity with Honda came up and it has put RBR/Honda closer to being a works team, and it has worked out very well for them, other than of course none of them being able to touch Mercedes still, which some had predicted years ago was going to be the case in the hybrid era anyway.
Bottom line…there would not be one single thought nor word uttered at RBR wrt regret about ‘burning a bridge’ with Renault. And there’s two sides to every street and one could just as easily say via their empty promises of improvements that never came, Renault has ‘burned a bridge’ with RBR.
Todfod (@todfod)
14th September 2020, 4:03
@homerlovesbeer
I don’t know what miracles Horner was expecting from Honda when he signed up with them. Honda have been the biggest failure in F1 (both as a team and engine manufacturers) since they reentered the sport in the early 2000s. That’s a 20 year legacy of not accomplishing anything despite throwing considerable resources at it.
Renault might not have invested as many resources in their engine program… And that angered Horner to start a war of words with Cyril.. Which eventually led to a split. But let’s face it, even in the current hybrid Era, Red bull has looked more competitive in 2016 and 2018 Than it has in 2019 and 2020 with Honda.
Personally, the only way Red bull is going to win a WDC is if they can design a car to make up for that engine deficit in speed and reliability. Honda is always going to be a liability… How much of a liability will decide how soon Red bull can win a title.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
13th September 2020, 16:14
So he has an engine problem at Monza and doesn’t replace said engine for this race. Now he has the same problem again…. Seems pretty dumb, no?
Matn
14th September 2020, 7:19
yeah… let’s just forget he drove 3 FP3’s and quali without any issues
Carbonized
13th September 2020, 17:54
Ha ha! the finger pointing, public laundry washing has started. Honda is about to step in Renault shoes. The return of “grehhh… GP2 engine ! Red bull flavored, staring Max :)
Observer
13th September 2020, 18:09
Max not happy?
With this “piece of jewlery” , with this Honda engine which “gave him all they ask” to win championships (as Horner said) ?
They don’t respect Reno when they wining also because of Reno special mode&maps when engine blows to diffusers even when throttle is off in corners.
Only Weber sometimes praise from podium “special thanx to Reno”.
Red Bull never respect engine manufacturers.
Halyard Banerjee
14th September 2020, 9:23
Reno is a city in Nevada, perhaps the engine manufacturer You are thinking of is Renault?
David Bondo
13th September 2020, 18:50
Mercedes has had the best engine since 2014. Seven long seasons now.
David BR (@david-br)
13th September 2020, 19:18
Great isn’t it? Oh. Not for you. That’s really sad.
F1oSaurus (@)
13th September 2020, 20:55
Well Ferrari had the better engine in 2018 and 2019, but indeed it turned they were cheating to get there. Plus they threw away most of their races and let Hamilton take all those wins.
Three seasons in a row that Ferrari could have had the WDC if they had a proper driver that can perform both in Q3 and during the race (ie keep the car on track and out of other cars).
David BR (@david-br)
13th September 2020, 19:17
Red Bull big supremo proudly boasts that they lobbied for engine modes to be banned to rein in Mercedes.
Red Bull’s performance subsequently takes a nosedive.
Max: hate to break the news, you’re in the wrong team.
F1oSaurus (@)
13th September 2020, 21:00
@david-br Ha, I know right. It was like when they were screwing Hamilton with a penalty in Austria and then Verstappen’s car broke down. Karma really seems to be powning them
Also the sad question from Albon during the race “I need more power”, yeah thank Marko that you can’t pick engine mode 11 anymore. If Albon would actually be allowed to use it since it’s only been available for Verstappen.
David BR (@david-br)
13th September 2020, 22:02
@f1osaurus It’s all a bit weird. Whether it’s unrelated, all connected or indeed just karma is unclear. Not that Mercedes will be bothered.
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2020, 7:21
@david-br Heh, yeah I don’t actually believe in karma, but situations like this are funny.
That Verstappen’s engine suffers “electronic issues” twice like that and only his and only during the race, that is a bit conspicuous though. I’m assuming the same engine would be used for quali, so why would it only fail in the race. Are they trying to mess with the ban on engine modes?
Matn
14th September 2020, 7:22
A smaller gap than ever before in Monza and the smallest gap in Mugello this season should be the answer to your claim…. I don;t belive Albon DNF-ed, yet he was closer as well… that gaps are smaller and Honda has reliability issues before the ban and after the ban
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
13th September 2020, 20:17
Apparently, Max mentioned in a post-race interview that he would have retired with this engine issue anyway. That’s why he couldn’t be bothered about the crash.
It’s sad that RB and Honda dropped the ball. Kudos to Merc for a 7 year domination.
Chaitanya
14th September 2020, 7:37
8 years not 7 years of domination on both titles. Engines and car designs are homologated for next season.
Bulgarian (@bulgarian)
13th September 2020, 21:27
Red Bull must ask FIA to allow engine modes again!
Todfod (@todfod)
14th September 2020, 4:08
@bulgarian
I think they’ll need to get more innovative. Maybe request the FIA to cap the power output at 800hp.. Or something more achievable for Honda.