Max in Baku: 'I'm happy Honda are pushing hard.'
Published on 25 April 2019 by Stefan Meens
Round four of the 2019 Formula World Championship takes places in the streets of Baku (Azerbaijan) “You have to be very precise around here because a small mistake will cost you”, explains Max Verstappen. “It’s definitely not the easiest track. Because of the dust, low grip and the big braking zones from high speed into slow corners, it’s easy to lock your wheels - especially as we run low downforce because of the long straight. All of this makes it tricky; so you have to be alert.”
“The middle sector suits our car, but the straights hurt us a bit”, continues the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver. “For us, the main thing is to maximise our results. Thus far that has been a podium and two fourth places, without a DNF. That is sometimes more important than winning a tenth of a second a lap and having problems.”
The team is continuing to work hard to further develop the car. “There’s nothing wrong with the car, we just need to find a bit more grip. The team is working hard to introduce new parts for the car. Hopefully we can do a better job compared to our competitors, on that front.”
For this weekend’s Grand Prix, both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso will make use of the new spec 2 Honda power-unit. “There’s nothing wrong with the other engine, and we can still use that one. But these are just steps Honda wants to make during the season to extract more power and reliability out of the power-unit. The performance will be a bit better but not hugely.”
Max concludes: “I’m happy though that Honda is pushing hard to give us updates. Last year, we saw you can start from the back and still finish on the podium, so I don’t see any issues. I’d rather that at the end of the season the power gap with Ferrari and Mercedes is closed, even if it means having to use a few more engines.”
