The continued development of the Honda engine means Red Bull have a “very promising” outlook for their tie-up next season.
After introducing the C-spec unit in Suzuka, the Japanese supplier continued work and have brought further upgrades to Austin, triggering grid penalties for both Toro Rosso drivers.
Speculation suggests Honda may only be as little as 20 horsepower behind Mercedes and Ferrari and in qualifying, there was a hint at its potential as Pierre Gasly was P10 in Q1 despite likely running a reduced engine mode.
“Yeah, I’m very excited, they [Honda] seemed really quick,” Verstappen commented. “Of course now we try to finish of the season in the best way possible, but the whole team is very motivated for next year.
“The numbers and what they’re doing on the dyno already in terms of preparation for next year looks very promising.”
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The talk around Honda couldn’t be more different from a year ago when McLaren announced their split after three years and some wondered if the company would pull out despite a deal with the junior Red Bull team.
“Basically now they just did their own thing in making the engine instead of the team telling them how to make the engine,” Max said on their rapid improvement.
“They got a few people on board as well, different management, so looks very promising.
“Of course a year ago it was a bit difficult to really judge that but that was always their intention. We have to wait [to see] if they are really going to succeed in that but they are definitely heading in the right direction.”
