Red Bull Racing are improving because of Honda says Max Verstappen following a strong first half of 2019.
The Dutchman has won twice in Austria and Germany this year to give Honda its first victories in the sport since the Hungarian Grand Prix back in 2006.
The team, who joined forces with the Japanese engine manufacture over the winter following their switch from Renault engines currently sit third in the constructors championships but have closed the gap to Scuderia Ferrari this season.
Verstappen believes the Honda power unit has been key to this and when speaking to Motorsport.Com, the Red Bull driver feels the team’s reliability has improved thanks to being able to push their car harder with Honda than they ever could with Renault.
“Yes we did have mechanical failures from the car and not the power unit last year, but they also came because we never had the reliability to test up to the limit.
“Honda is spending so much time on the dyno and then we also find out our limits from the parts on the car, so we never had that before.
“You never had an idea if your car was strong enough or not and you only found that out from retiring, so the whole preparation before you get into a season is so much better.
“The car and the power unit are very reliable.”
Verstappen has demonstrated the car’s reliability this year by finishing every race no lower than fifth place and sits in third place in the drivers championship standings and continues to be excited by the partnership between the two.
“Everything is open, we full work together and we try to help them, they try to help us in how to do things better, so we are fully committed to each other.” Verstappen told Motorsport.Com
“They are winners, we are winners, we all want to win together, so we want to always get the best out of it.”
