Van der Garde: "In this way the championship is quickly a lost cause"

With the third outage of Max Verstappen this season, all analysts and connoisseurs agree on one thing: this really shouldn't happen. Certainly not with a top team like Red Bull Racing, who have now seen some championship opportunities for Verstappen go up in smoke. Giedo van der Garde also says it is unacceptable.

Is that the cause of the problems?

"I understand very well that he is upset, because something like this shouldn't happen," says Van der Garde at Motorsport.com. "They need to do things better, because this way it's dramatic, of course. You can fight all you want and race on your very best, but going out like that... that doesn't work. You miss out on so many points and the championship is quickly a lost cause this way."

Next, Van der Garde goes into the qualifying difference between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, making the link between a smaller hole and the engine problems. As the engine is pushed even more, there is a greater chance of problems. Or in the words of the Dutch driver: "I wouldn't know what else is causing this.

"Honda has certainly made progress, they have more power than last year. You can see that now and they are really participating, but yes, the reliability is not good." The Japanese engine supplier will have to work on that and it is likely that Verstappen in Sochi will appear on the track with a brand new engine.