Verstappen hopes Spec 4 Honda will improve starts

Max Verstappen despite knowing that he will start from the back of the grid since Wednesday and the confirmation that he was going to use the new Honda engine introduced at Spa, the driver Red Bull Racing would like to not lose any further ground at the start. 

Last Sunday again, the Dutchman, 5th on the grid, did not have the most calm start and slipped behind Kimi Räikkönen, which indirectly led to a collision between the two men at the first corner. Already in Austria and Germany, Verstappen had almost stalled on the grid. Which did not prevent him from winning. 

« We know what the problem is, commented the Batavian from Monza where the F1 stops off for the last European stopover of the season. I hope the feeling will be better with the new engine. The problem occurs as soon as I release the clutch, in the following phase we are in difficulty.

When we take the last few years as a reference: if I had a bad start, I didn't lose a position and if the takeoff was correct then I gained some. Now, if it doesn't work ideally, I slip down the rankings. And if everything goes normally, I keep my rank. 

This year, when I release the clutch, the car initially slips too much. Maybe colder tires are contributing to the phenomenon (the temperatures of the electric blankets dropped from 100°C to 80°C at the back, Editor’s note). That's no excuse. We can do better and I hope that will be the case with the Spec 4 ». 

Asked how much control he had over the situation, Verstappen added: « The procedure always goes well. If we look at the averages over the last few seasons, I was in the top three. I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong even though we can always improve. This has more to do with how the engine delivers torque at low revs. ». 

To our Dutch colleagues, the Flying Dutchman clarified that the new Honda engine brought a gain in power without wanting to specify the exact number of horsepower. “ This is the biggest step forward made with the engine “, he simply moved forward.