Yamamoto puts advantage on Red Bull: 'Ferrari hasn't turned the tide'

Masashi Yamamoto believes Ferrari are looking strong after the Austrian Grand Prix, yet the former Honda director thinks Red Bull Racing are looking better overall. Yamamoto does not think the momentum is with Ferrari right now.

Yamamoto attended the Austrian Grand Prix to watch Red Bull's race live. He left Honda earlier this year and now works as an independent consultant for Red Bull. Yamamoto thinks Max Verstappen did a great job to finish second including the fastest lap of the race. It was a tough race for the team as Verstappen suffered extreme tyre degradation.

Ferrari, therefore, looked a lot faster than Red Bull on Sunday, yet Yamamoto thinks Verstappen's team has a better car. "It's true that Ferrari is strong, but looking at Carlos Sainz's blown engine, I think the engine from HRC [Honda Racing Corporation] and Red Bull Powertrains is better in terms of overall performance, including reliability", he tells AS-Web.

Some fans and pundits believe that Ferrari and Leclerc have turned the tide and will be back in the fight for the title from now on, but Yamamoto disagrees. "I don't think the tide has turned", he says.

Honda revealed this week that the door to Formula One is not closed. The engine supplier left the sport after 2021, but has helped Red Bull develop the Red Bull Powertrains this year. At the start of the season, the team was struggling with reliability issues, but now it is the Ferrari engine that is experiencing problems.