It was a positive day for Honda, but not quite. Although the Honda-powered Max Verstappen won the first sprint qualifying ever, the other three drivers with a Japanese power source in the back did not leave a good impression.
Toyoharu Tanabe, technical director of the engine supplier, looks back on an eventful day at Silverstone. “In the first ever sprint qualifying session, a fantastic start by Max ensured that he secured the fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull-Honda. Although this was of course a bit different from the previous three,” reasons the Japanese driver, who drove the other three Hondas. drivers saw significantly less performance.
“Unfortunately, Checo lost a lot of places after a spin and in the end he had to retire because the spin caused a lot of vibrations, which in turn compromised safety.”
“Both AlphaTauri drivers finished in the same place as they started: in place twelve and sixteen. It has been a tough weekend for the team so far. In the race on Sunday, Max will have both Mercedes drivers on the grid right behind him. , while the three other Honda drivers are far behind him, which means it could be a difficult day for all of them,” Tanabe argues.
In the run-up to the race, the Japanese will in any case not sit still, he promises. “The fact that we have completed a race on Saturday means that we have collected a lot of useful data that will be relevant for Sunday’s race. We will therefore carefully analyze it in the run-up to the race.”
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