F1: Verstappen claims Honda partnership will work out only by 2020

Max Verstappen has stated that the partnership of Red Bull and Honda will take atleast an year to develop properly and can only be a top team by 2020. The 20-year-old was speaking after a podium finish at Spa.

“At first we will need to take some more steps, but hopefully at the end we will be close. The year after, we should be out in full force,” said Verstappen. When asked about his thoughts on winning the title, he termed it as ‘tricky’.

“Everyone wants that, but in Formula 1 that’s a tricky thing,” he commented. On being quizzed about why 2020 would seem more realistic, Verstappen was of the opinion that it’ll take time to ‘take things to the limit.’

“Looking at where they came from the last couple of years, they have advanced considerably. You very rarely see something get broken,” he said.

“The most important thing is that they want to take things to the limit. They have the means, which is very important if you want to take on the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes.”

Verstappen was also impressed by the amount of effort being put by the Honda team in preparation for the next year, implying that they understood the rigors of supplying to a top-three team.

“All in all, Honda is a much more serious candidate. They have already been on the test rig and want a lot of gearboxes from us to prepare themselves for the coming year.”

“They are enormously driven and want to do thousands of miles on the test rig.”

Despite winning only one race this year to teammate Ricciardo’s two, Verstappen moved ahead of the Australian in the drivers’ standings to fifth position, courtesy of a solid Belgian Grand Prix, where he finished third behind Vettel and Hamilton.

He’ll be hoping to repeat the performance or even go one better when the F1 grid returns next week to another iconic circuit in Italy- Monza. It’ll be the home race for Red Bull’s sister team, Toro Rosso, who gave Verstappen his break in F1 back in 2015.