Verstappen ‘not worried’ about positive Honda switch 

Max Verstappen says he has no concerns about Red Bull’s decision to switch to Honda Formula 1 engines next season and is excited by the potential of the new partnership. 

In the build-up to this weekend’s French Grand Prix, Red Bull opted to end its 12-year relationship with Renault in favour of joining forces with Japanese power unit manufacturer Honda in a two year deal starting from 2019. 

Honda is currently attempting to rebuild its reputation in F1 and has made progress with new customer and Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso, following years of poor reliability and a lack of performance during its torrid tenure with McLaren. 

But Verstappen insists he is not worried worried about Honda’s well-documented issues and is encouraged by the move. 

"No, actually not [worried]," he said. "Looking at the performance they showed this year and the improvements they made -- especially in Canada again -- it looked very positive. They keep improving and putting people in the right places.

"I believe in the decision and the team clearly believes in it because they signed the deal. And it's exciting as well when you have Honda working for Red Bull and Toro Rosso only, and it's purely designed around your car. I think that also is very good.”

But teammate Daniel Ricciardo, whose future at Red Bull remains up in the air as he continues to assess his career options, believes the switch to Honda power presents an “unknown” for the team. 

“Renault has come a pretty long way this year. I know we still don’t have the qualifying modes, but our race pace, once we’re all fuel saving, we seem a lot more competitive,” he explained.

“They are improving. Honda seems to be improving with Toro Rosso. They are both on the up. It’s just who is going to get there quicker, that’s still the unknown.”