Breaking news
Formula 1 Belgian GP
Verstappen: I'd prefer engines to blow up than shut down
Max Verstappen says he would rather his engines were blowing up than shutting down, after revealing his failed Renault fired up in the garage after the Belgian Grand Prix.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Aug 29, 2017, 10:17 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Verstappen was forced out of the race at Spa when a sensor shut down the power unit after detecting increasing pressure inside the fourth cylinder.
And the Dutchman has revealed that his frustrations about the situation increased after the grand prix when his car fired up in the garage.
Speaking to Dutch TV show Peptalk, Verstappen said that new safety measures introduced to stop reliability failures actually left him more annoyed.
“Because we blew up a few engines at the beginning of the season, they have built a kind of safety mode,” said Verstappen.
“But at that moment, when the engine goes into that, it doesn’t run any more. So when the car came back, they removed the plug, put it back again and the engine worked.
“They want to play safe and not to blow the engine, but I prefer that [blowing the engine] than it shuts down the engine and it runs again at the next restart.”
Red Bull future
With six retirements this season, Verstappen has made it clear that he finds the situation at Red Bull increasingly frustrating.
He says he has let the company’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko know how annoyed he is.
“I’ve spoken with Helmut again today and told him that I’m not happy,” he said. “The fun fades away.
"You go on holiday, charge yourself after a kind of terrible [first part of the] season and then you arrive at Spa and it goes wrong.”
He added: “You sign a deal with Red Bull and you want a winning package. We don’t have that at the moment. I’ve let them know I’m not happy, just like after the previous DNF, but it’s only getting worse, of course.
"I know it isn’t coming from Red Bull, but in the end it’s the entire package you are depending on.”
Pushed on whether the situation was now so bad he was contemplating tearing up his contract, Verstappen said: “No, that’s not possible. The problem with F1 is that the differences are too big. We can’t do much at the moment.
“If you would win everywhere, it’s fine to go from Toro Rosso to Red Bull. Everything improves, but in the end you are behind and there isn’t much progress within the year. That’s not nice.”
Asked what happens next, he said: “We’ll see, at the end of the contract.”
Quotes translated by Tim Biesbrouck
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article FIA confirms Mercedes can keep higher oil burn limit
Next article Renault: Alonso 2018 return would be wrong timing
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Dec 28, 2024
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Max Verstappen
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 d
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
More from
Red Bull Racing
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 d
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 13 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 14 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
15 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
17 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe