Verstappen: “Honda will start 2019 no worse than Renault”

Max Verstappen believes Honda will be “in the same or a better position” than Renault in the Formula 1 engine battle by the start of the 2019 season. “Well, let's say I'm very confident that at the start of the season we will not be worse than Renault. “We will always be in the same or a better position.” He added: “I hope that it [the upgrade in Sochi] will already be a good step. “I know the steps they are making up until the beginning of next season so it all looks very promising.” Verstappen expects to visit the manufacturer’s Sakura research and development facility later this year or early in 2019 and is leaning heavily on his team for information in the meantime. “I always ask questions about a lot of stuff - driveability, downshifting, energy deployment, all these kinds of things,” he said. “Of course the team is really busy with it now and just analysing everything. “It looks promising. They are working really hard to get the gains and they are spending a lot of money on the whole project, which is very good.”

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