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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says that the team is looking forward to switching to Honda power next season after its struggles at the Belgian Grand Prix. The energy drink squad will depart from Renault at the end of the year, ending its long-term relationship with the French manufacturer.
Max Verstappen claimed a podium at Sunday's race around Spa-Francorchamps but finished half a minute behind race winner Sebastian Vettel. Earlier this year, Red Bull confirmed it would be switching to Honda power for 2019.
This season, Honda has been running with Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team. And Horner says that you have to look no further than the results to show that Red Bull and Honda are capable of a successful partnership.
"We need to make a step," he said. "You can see the gap [to Mercedes and Ferrari] is significant. Honda are making great progress. They are scoring points regularly and you can see they are making headway."
Next weekend, Monza will host the Italian Grand Prix with the legendary track notoriously power-sensitive. Red Bull is expecting to struggle once again and Horner confirmed that Ricciardo will be taking an engine related grid penalty next Sunday in order to optimise his chances for Singapore.
"We will try and get ourselves on the best footing," said Horner. "Daniel Ricciardo will be taking an engine penalty next weekend and Max will be taking his third unit there, hopefully without penalty. We will be trying to get ourselves in the best position we can going to Singapore which is probably our next big hope of challenging Ferrari and Mercedes."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (5)
Login to replyboudy
Posts: 1,168
Can't really blame Redbull for thinking that. They were losing a lot of time on the straights however Honda will need to make another couple of steps in performance to be on equal terms with the leading 2 teams.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It'll take more than a couple of steps for that. But as of now, any progress is better than no progress. As long as they manage to at least equal Renault, its a win for Red Bull.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Without Newey Red Bull is nothing but a drinks company and a third rate racing team. Ever since he started to work on other projects the RB cars have suffered. Vettel saw it so during his last year at RB he sandbagged against Ricciardo so he could exercise his exit clause and go to Ferrari. If they think a Honda engine is going to save them maybe the should go to Indycar instead of playing in the F1 arena.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Newey is just one guy, and no matter how talented he is he can just impact a team so much. And he has been pretty present at Red Bull again since 2017, so its not like he isnt there anymore. They have problems, like most teams, but much fewer than most.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
I wouldn't underestimate the impact he makes since it took for newey to come back to Redbull to sort out the car at the beginning of 2017. However he's in the top of his field.