Max Verstappen never held back his criticism of Red Bull Racing’s engine supplier in 2018, but the Dutchman says that all he wanted was for Renault to improve.
The relationship between Red Bull and Renault became volatile once again this season on the back of reliability issues impacting the manufacturer’s power unit as well its inability to bridge the performance gap with Mercedes and Ferrari.
While Daniel Ricciardo was the main recipient of Renault’s engine woes, his team mate was a lot more vocal in his criticism of a partner that will be replaced by Honda next season.
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The 20-year-old insists however that his blasting – to which Renault Sport F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul did not take kindly – was all about pushing the engine supplier to make progress.
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“It was never my intention to put them down, but I want to make it better,” explained Verstappen, speaking on his website.
“Look, we now have a deal with Honda, but if we had continued with Renault next year, I would want us to make progress.
“I am just very clear in what I say. I can also say that they can take it easy, but I am not like that. It can and must be better and I just always want full commitment.
“However, you have to be open to criticism, that is how I grew up. I’m sorry if you can’t deal with that, but I’m not here to join in with the Olympic idea.
“I want to win and for that all parties have to be committed.”
Red Bull’s decision to switch to Honda for 2019 is seen as a risky bet by many.
While he isn’t expecting the new partnership to hit the ground running in Melbourne, Verstappen is confident the Japanese manufacturer will deliver – in time – a better product than Renault.
“Hopefully it will be a long-term collaboration”, adds Verstappen.
“I don’t expect that everything runs smoothly at once, but you can’t expect that, I think. I will always be focused, but you also have to believe in the project and be patient.
“I do not expect that we can really fight for the championship at the start of the season, but if we are just a little bit better than this year, we can be closer to the competition and run a consistent season, that is already an improvement for the championship.
“You do not necessarily need to have the best car.”
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