(Motorsport-Total.com) – The start of the season in 2019 ran quite well for Red Bull and Honda. In the first joint race in Melbourne, Max Verstappen finished on the podium in the RB15 with Honda Power. Of course you have even higher goals in both Milton Keynes and Sakura. But at Red Bull, you’re convinced that you’re on the right track in terms of development – and are even giving away a bit of time right now.
Red Bull’s chief engineer Rob Marshall revealed in a Q & A by Red Bull partner ExxonMobil that the Honda engine is not optimally integrated with the Red Bull chassis this year. Marshall explains, “These are not necessarily big things, but there may be four or five areas that we think would be better if we could change [in the future].”
“If you add those five things, or just three of those five, you’ll make a noticeable profit,” he says. He explains that this is a “free” time saving for Red Bull, because Honda does not have to find any additional performance on the engine. “It’s just about making other parts and moving a few things,” explains Marshall.
The fact that integration is not perfect in 2019 is not unusual. After all, it’s the first season that Red Bull and Honda are competing together. It is quite normal that in some areas there is still room for improvement. Marshall is already very satisfied with the collaboration with the Japanese. “Honda are very professional, they are very well prepared and push really hard,” he explains.
“They are very open to our suggestions, and conversely, we understand when they say that something is a bit difficult, or that they do not want to do something because it carries a risk in terms of reliability,” says Marshall. Red Bull will not race Renault engines this year for the first time since 2006. Junior team Toro Rosso has been equipping Honda since 2018.
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