Max Verstappen has admitted that he may not be able to fight for the world championship until Honda has had a chance to gel with Red Bull beyond next season. The Milton-Keynes based team will switch from Renault to Honda power next year, something that the Dutchman admits could be a difficulty at first.
Speaking to Ziggo Sports, Verstappen admitted that whilst he would love to challenge for an F1 title next season, the Red Bull team might not be close enough to the top two teams to allow for that to happen.
"Everyone wants that, but in Formula 1 that's a tricky thing," he said.
"At first we will need to take some more steps, but hopefully at the end we will be close. The year after, we should be out in full force.
"Looking at where (Honda) came from the last couple of years, they have advanced considerably. You very rarely see something get broken.
"The most important thing is that they want to take things to the limit. They have the means, which is very important if you want to take on the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes.
"All in all, Honda is a much more serious candidate. They have already been on the test rig and want a lot of gearboxes from us to prepare themselves for the coming year. They are enormously driven and want to do thousands of miles on the test rig."
Verstappen has won four grands prix already, becoming the youngest ever driver to do so in Spain after being promoted from Toro Rosso in place of Daniil Kvyat. His potential is still untapped but a world championship seems to be a question of when rather than if.
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