F1 News
'Problem at the starting line had nothing to do with failure for Verstappen'
The Honda engine in Max Verstappen's RB16 failed him for the second race in a row. A disappointment for all parties involved, not in the least Honda itself who say they are going to do everything they can to prevent this from happening again.
The first problems for Verstappen seemed to occur when he drove out of the pits to get to the grid. The Red Bull Racing driver warned his team that the engine was about to stop. After some wrenching, Verstappen seemed to be able to start the race. According to Toyoharu Tanabe, this has nothing to do with his final failure.
Honda has suspicions
"The problems before we drove to the grid are irrelevant. It was after the start that these problems occurred, to be more precise when we started the formation lap," said the Honda boss to AutoSport-Web.
"It's true that it's the same problem in the sense that something went wrong with the engine, but I think the cause is different."
Tanabe doesn't want to say exactly what his suspicion is about this, it requires a thorough investigation of the power source at the factory in Japan. So he can't say whether Verstappen could have finished the race with these problems.