Verstappen: Red Bull start failures still causing a headache

Max Verstappen says Red Bull have gotten to the bottom of this year's poor race starts, but fixing the issue is another matter.

Verstappen has been hampered by several slow starts this year, with varying effects on his race efforts.

A sluggish getaway in Austria preceded a memorable drive through the field for victory, but a similar launch in Belgium a week away led to the Dutchman getting cramped by Kimi Raikkonen, and contact between them at Turn 1 led to his immediate retirement.

Making a quick getaway might not be so important for Verstappen in Italy this week, as he will start from the back of the grid due to taking a new engine, something which may actually help the problem.

"We know what the problem is, but it's really hard to solve," Verstappen said.

"Hopefully now with the new engine it will be a bit better. As soon as I release the clutch, that bit afterwards, we seemed to struggle a bit."

Problems at the start have not characterised Verstappen so much previously, and he confirmed it appears to be a new issue for 2019.

"Now, if I have a good start, I keep my position, and if I have a bad start I lose one or two positions," he said.

"That is the tricky bit, whereas last year if you had a little minor issue, it would still be fine, because we still had the traction coming off.

"Somehow this year when I release the clutch we immediately sometimes get too much wheelspin. The tyres being cooler, maybe they play a part in that.

"Of course it's not an excuse. Still I think we can do better, and hopefully with the new engine, it will be better."

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