Verstappen tells Honda: Red Bull need more power

Max Verstappen insists that Honda need to step up in their development of the Red Bull engine as the team needs more power to compete with Mercedes and Ferrari - like they did last year when he won the Austrian Grand Prix, the next race on the calendar.

The Dutchman finished the French GP in fourth after starting in fourth, and although he found himself in and around Charles Leclerc in third at points, he reckons he never had the power to move further up the places.

You have to keep on pushing. You try to push yourself. I still want to see how fast we can go,” Verstappen said.

“At one point in the second stint we were looking quite good, but with six/seven laps to go I ran out of rear-grip so I decided to bring it home. I couldn't really rely on the rear tyres anymore so, but to be in front of one Ferrari is a good result for us.

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“Of course, there are limitations, and you have to drive around it. Every driver would like more grip, but for us, at the moment, it is not only grip, but also top speed, as you could see in the first lap.

“It was very hard to defend, but also to attack. Because we had a good start, but then three cars just come by.

The Red Bull man thinks the team, and Honda, need to work together on both improved grip and improved power in order to compete.

“We have to work on both sides to make a step up,” he added.

Verstappen won the 2018 edition of the Austrian GP, with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel in behind in first and second.

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