Renault Respond to Verstappen Complaints

Max Verstappen sits fifth in the World Drivers’ Championship standings having finished on the podium seven times this season.

And he has been critical of the engines Red Bull use, which he believes have left them trailing in Mercedes and Ferrari’s wake.

“It’s a little bit faster than the old one, so in that way it is positive, but it’s of course still not enough,” Max Verstappen said after last month’s Italian Grand Prix.

“Maybe in Q3 it [the gap to the front] was a little bit bigger than in Q2, but in Q3 I was also the first one out in my final run when I did my fastest lap and they were all towing each other, so that’s another three, four tenths on this track.

“It could have been a little bit better.

“It’s still over a second off, but that’s also what we are missing from the engine.”

Verstappen will be hoping his engine can power him to victory at Sunday’s United States Grand Prix.

Ahead of the race in Texas, Renault chief technical officer Bell has hit back at the Dutchman.

And he’s pinpointed two potential reasons for Red Bull’s problems – how they install their engines and a lack of luck.

“For Max, it’s all about being fast because he’s young and in a hurry,” Bell said.

“He wants to win because he knows he has the potential and he’s disappointed that his car lets him down.

“But he only blames our engine.

“We make no changes to the engines we use for our [works] cars and the ones that go to our customers.

“It may be the installation of the engines that affect the Red Bull cars, or maybe they’ve just been unlucky.”

Fortunately for Verstappen, Red Bull only have four races to go with Renault engines before they switch supplier to Honda.

That will not be their only change ahead of next season, with Daniel Ricciardo leaving them for Renault and Pierre Gasly replacing the Australian.

One of Ricciardo’s friends, former GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi, says Verstappen’s supremacy at Red Bull paved the way for the 29-year-old moving on.

“Daniel does not want to be a second driver at Red Bull,” Valsecchi said.

“It is clear that Verstappen is preferred within the team.

“From the moment that Max joined Red Bull in Spain, I realised that Daniel was.

“Max jumped into a car unknown to him and was in the qualification immediately right behind Daniel: more or less equal.

“You recognised Max’s talent immediately.

“And that’s bigger than my friend’s.

“I knew Daniel would go under.

“Max is better; I understand why he received double or triple the salary of Dan.”

Verstappen takes part in the United States Grand Prix this weekend having finished fourth there last year.