Verstappen blows off Renault engine claims

Max Verstappen has rubbished Renault’s claims of building a stronger engine starting 2019 to challenge the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes. The French manufacturer had earlier announced that they had begun development on their 2019 project.

“They had one last year as well I think. [Catching Mercedes and Ferrari] was the idea four years ago as well. And three years ago as well. And two years ago as well. It’s always the same old song,” Verstappen told Motorsport.com when asked about Renault’s claims.

He added that it was not his problem anymore because a new challenge awaited him next year with Red Bull, that of Honda. “I don’t care. I’m totally not thinking about that. I’m looking forward to the challenge we have with Honda now,” Verstappen said.

These words could be slightly discouraging for his current teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, as the Australian has joined Renault starting next year. Asked about the potential failures of the engine, Ricciardo claimed that the team was working hard on it.

“When I signed, I knew that there was work ahead but I know that they’re putting a lot of effort into making things better and expanding a lot of departments and trying to make ’19 stronger and ’20 and whatever,” he said.

However, he did admit that he wanted to see better performance from them. “Yeah, the way the last few races have been this year…it would be nice to see them improve every race but I honestly don’t look into it too much yet.”

“I think ’19 is a new car and it’s going to be a fresh start again, so I’m not spending too much energy on that at the moment. Obviously, all I can do is, once my year’s done, is try to be fully immersed into it all and try to help as much as I can.” 

A lot of people have expressed their doubts on Ricciardo’s move to a ‘lesser’ team, in terms of performance, but he himself seems satisfied with it. The fact that he has given Renault the chance is proof alone of that fact.