Max Verstappen was still less than impressed with Renault after running their new 'C-spec' engine for the first time on Saturday at Monza.
With teammate Daniel Ricciardo switching to the new unit on Friday, Red Bull decided the performance was such that it was worth installing in the Dutchman's car, meaning he has now reached his full allocation for the season.
Yet despite predictions from Renault the new engine would be worth three-tenths of a second, Verstappen still ended qualifying almost 1.5 seconds off the pace in fifth.
“It’s a little bit faster than the old one, so in that way it is positive, but it’s of course still not enough,” the 20-year-old commented.
“Maybe in Q3 it [the gap to the front] was a little bit bigger than in Q2, but in Q3 I was also the first one out in my final run when I did my fastest lap.
“They were all towing each other, so that’s another three, four tenths on this track.
“It could have been a little bit better. It’s still over a second off, but that’s also what we are missing from the engine.”
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Ricciardo meanwhile limited his running to a single lap in Q1, as he was already set to start from the back, and perhaps knowing he will still be racing with Renault next season, was more upbeat about its potential.
“I felt like we had a bit more in it, especially as I only did one lap in quali,” he claimed.
“I believe it still wasn’t optimised on that one lap, but it feels like the torque curve keeps going a bit [and it] kind of pulls a bit harder or longer on lots of corners, so it seemed encouraging.”
