Verstappen: "I leave that to the team"

Max Verstappen doesn't know whether serious consideration is being given to buying the Honda engine after 2021. The Red Bull Racing driver emphasized that the news of the Japanese engine supplier's departure is still very fresh and that, for this reason, not many decisions have yet been made. 

"It is all so new. We can speculate about things, but I don't think that makes a lot of sense," said Verstappen at Red Bull's press event, when he is asked by the Dutch media whether buying Honda's entire engine department, is an option. Last week there was a rumour that Helmut Marko and Christian Horner had already talked to the big boss Dietrich Mateschitz about this possibility.

In that case, Red Bull would buy Honda's engine, so the rights would come into Red Bull's possession. The Austrians would then look for a third party to take on the further development of the engine.

In the coming weeks, the Austrian race team will take the time to look at what is and what is not possible for the future. "The team itself doesn't yet know where everything is, we'll see where we're going," explained Verstappen in Germany.

Red Bull keeps all options open

For Red Bull it is important to find a new engine supplier quickly, because the development of the 2022 chassis is about to begin or has even already begun. The integration of the new engine is very important, so the big question is whether time is running out for Red Bull? "It will take another year and a half. You can talk about it now, but in two months' time it could be completely different again, I don't know what exactly is going on. I leave that to the team. They are busy planning for the future, they can't give a precise answer either. We are keeping all the options open at the moment."