Honda apologise to Verstappen after Germany qualifying

Max Verstappen has received an apology from engine provider Honda following the qualifying session for the German Grand Prix in which he finished second behind Lewis Hamilton.

The Dutchman started Q1 well and made it through to Q2, but from there he found himself in a race against time to qualify for Q1 due to being called back into the garage after he complained of a sudden drop in power for his Red Bull.

It has now been revealed that Honda attempted a different power unit mode in Q2 which caused the issue. Toyoharu Tanabe, their racing director, was apologetic afterwards.

"It’s great to have Max on the front row and Pierre [Gasly] right behind him on the grid in a career best fourth place,” he said.

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“However, we must say sorry to Max, as there was a problem with the PU settings when we tried a different mode in Q2, which did not work.”

Verstappen himself described the moment in which he felt the power leave his car.

“I tried a different mode for that run, but as soon as I crossed the start-finish line, somehow it just cut out, lost a bit of power, and then you know your lap is ruined, so I backed off,” he revealed.

The qualifying session came down to a shootout between Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas to claim pole position after Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari were both forced to retire prematurely after engine issues.

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