Red Bull want Honda to take more risks

Dr Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen are both wanting to see bigger performance steps from Red Bull’s engine supplier Honda.

The change in supplier from Renault to Honda has seen Red Bull so far retain its position as the third-best team on the grid behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

Red Bull and Honda recently celebrated their relatively drama-free one-year anniversary together, but Red Bull’s motorsport advisor would now like to see the Japanese manufacturers take greater risks in trying to deliver more speed to the car.

“This years engine is incredible reliable,” Marko told Auto Motor und Sport.

“There wasn’t a single failure. But we’d like to take a bit more risk in the future to get more power in return.

“Even if it means starting from the back – with Max that guarantees having an exciting race.”

In a separate interview, Verstappen has the same line of thinking as Marko and is wary of the threat that Renault and McLaren are starting to pose to Red Bull.

“You could see in lap one I think we are missing some top speed to the top guys,” Verstappen said via RaceFans.net.

“The McLarens behind are very quick on the straight.

“The car balance is not too bad. We do need to gain a bit of performance from the car to be really competitive. We do need to make a bigger step also with the engine.

“You could see the Renault over one lap they have a quite powerful ‘quali mode’ or whatever they use in lap one,” he added.

“Afterwards they have to back it out, of course, and then you can see they are not a threat any more. But over one lap we can definitely improve a bit more.”

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