Good news for Verstappen: Honda has solved problems before Imola

Another failure for Verstappen

For Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, the Australian Grand Prix ended in a big disappointment. For the second time in 2022, the Dutchman had to park his RB18 on the side of the track due to a problem with his car. Where after the Bahrain GP was pointed to a problem with the fuel supply, the problem would now again have to do with the fuel.

Verstappen himself was harsh after the Australian GP: this could not and should not happen and the Red Bull driver did not even have to talk about prolonging the title. Christian Horner was also fed up with the situation and Helmut Marko also found it unacceptable. The latter, however, has now received good news from Japan.

Good news from Honda

Although Red Bull Racing runs with Red Bull Powertrains, it is in fact still a Honda engine and the engine factory in Milton Keynes is not yet ready to the extent that the power source itself can be scrutinized. At Sakura, that has been done and Marko informs the Austrian ORF that Honda has assured him that the problems will be fixed before the next race.

The second piece of good news is that the fire at the rear of the Red Bull car was not able to do any major damage to the reigning world champion's engine. Again, according to Marko, there was nothing wrong with the engine, but this time with the fuel line. That would have cracked under great pressure causing the leak.

For Verstappen, it is to be hoped that his failure in Bahrain was the last of this season. Mika Hakkinen is a good example, because in 1999 he also crashed out twice in the first three races and still became world champion. However, there are not many more examples, so Verstappen and Red Bull are warned: another DNF could just mean the end of the title race in 2022.