Max Verstappen Blames McLaren for Honda’s Early Struggles

According to Max Verstappen, Honda are still haunted by their nightmarish stint with McLaren. The Dutchman believes that that their efforts with Red Bull are tainted by their three-year run with McLaren. However, he is confident that the success they enjoyed before the summer break will provide a confidence boost.

It is safe to say that Red Bull and Verstappen experienced a surge from the Austrian Grand Prix onwards. A new front wing and extra power was proof of their run of form and Max Verstappen capitalised with a win at the Red Bull Ring.

Since then, Verstappen has been a serious contender for a podium in every race. The notable exception was at Silverstone, though he could be forgiven as he was an unsuspecting victim of a red torpedo called Sebastian Vettel. He grabbed another victory in Germany in adverse weather conditions in a topsy-turvy race. Unfortunately, Lewis Hamilton denied him a third win of the season at the last race in Hungary.

Max Verstappen revealed that aerodynamic tweaks designed by technical guru, Adrian Newey helped maximise the potential from the team’s new power unit. This also allowed Honda to forge ahead in the developmental department and forget their McLaren misery.

“We started to get more out of the engine from that moment on,” Verstappen admitted to Motorsport.com.

“I thought Honda wanted to prevent engines from breaking. But we are pushing a little harder now and it is still going well. The engine is running well, everything is running well.”

“But because of all the negative stuff that they experienced at McLaren, with all those engines being blown up, I think they were a bit careful. However, I think this has been the right approach.”

He added that they are still working hard and the factory is also pushing hard to get new parts onto the car and make it snappy.

He continued, “Of course Adrian was on top of it and because of this we had a very fast car that made driving a pleasure.”

“From Austria, where we have brought a few new parts to the car that seem to have turned things around, we can finally really push the car.”