Red Bull: Honda must change culture to match Mercedes, Ferrari

Red Bull

Red Bull: Honda must change culture to match Mercedes, Ferrari

Helmut Marko wants Honda to gamble.

Matthew Scott

Thursday 27 June 2019 10:41

Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko says the team must change the "thinking culture" of Honda in order to convince them to take more risks with their engines in the search for more power. Max Verstappen has begun calls for more power from Honda, with Red Bull struggling to fight Mercedes and Ferrari.

A pair of third-place finishes represent Verstappen's best results from the opening eight races of 2019, as Red Bull get to rips with the 2019 regulations and their new engine partner.

Although Marko insists Red Bull remain happy with their decision to ditch Renault in favour of the Japanese manufacturer, Verstappen recently pointed to McLaren's qualifying performance in France, aided by a power mode from Renault that Red Bull perhaps did not enjoy last year, and remain without now they have Honda.

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And Marko hopes Honda will break the shackles on their development in an attempt to keep pace with their manufacturing rivals.

"The engine is incredibly reliable — we haven't had a failure," he said. "Everything Honda has promised to us has been fulfilled.

"But our previous updates did not bring as much benefit as those at Mercedes and Ferrari.

"In the future, we would like to see a little more risk and hope for a power increase.

"We would rather start from the back with a stronger engine, because if Max starts at the back, a thrilling grand prix is guaranteed.

"Together with our Japanese partners we are now trying to take more risk. But that is difficult, because they [at Honda] have a slightly different thinking culture."