Verstappen: Renault engine 'really a problem'

Max Verstappen says Red Bull's title chances have taken a dive.

Although the Dutchman won in Austria, he says at the most recent races, Renault's power deficit has become a much bigger problem.

"I think we have the strongest chassis of anyone," said Verstappen. "If we had the Mercedes or Ferrari engine, they would never see us again.

"But now we have too little speed on the straight. It's really a problem.

"Since Ferrari and Mercedes did their engine upgrade, the deficit has really increased," he added.

He said the biggest example of that was Silverstone, where he says Red Bull was "slow".

And Germany next weekend could also be a problem.

"It's eight corners and many straights in between them," Verstappen said of Hockenheim.

"But you never know, we could achieve good results thanks to incidents and safety cars. But it won't be easy," he told De Telegraaf newspaper.

"I think after that we can really compete in Hungary, Singapore and Mexico. I think on average we lose six, seven tenths because of the engine, but there are perhaps four tenths we can compensate for elsewhere.

"So yes, I see opportunities there," he added.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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