"Honda looks to be more affected by the new directive than competitors"
- GPblog.com
Prior to the race weekend at Monza, there was a lot of speculation about the impact that the new guidelines on engine settings would have on the outcome of qualifying. It was expected that Mercedes would suffer, but it seems that it is Honda that has fallen furthest back. At least that is what the journalist Peter Windsor says.
In his latest Youtube video, in which he discusses Saturday's qualification, he briefly touches on a somewhat disappointing fifth place for Max Verstappen: "It looks as if he didn't have a clean lap and was in traffic most of the time. That's odd, because Red Bull is normally good at that."
Mercedes is not bothered by anything
However, that is not the only problem that seemed to be affecting Red Bull Racing. Windsor stresses that the position of the teams with Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari engines has remained virtually the same as before the new directive, but that Honda will be the only area to give up this weekend.
“Could it be that the Honda engine is hurt more by the new mapping rules than Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes? We thought it would probably hurt Mercedes, but it hasn’t. It looks as if Honda maybe hurt more than most. Maybe Honda had something pretty good going in qualifying.”