Honda predicts trouble for Red Bull: 'New calendar will be important'

Friday at Spa was a very productive one for Honda. All drivers of Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri were able to do their laps and apart from the crash of Max Verstappen Honda had nothing to complain about. Toyoharu Tanabe, therefore, spoke of a positive Friday.

"In VT1 there was light rain and in VT2 it rained a bit more before the start. Under the conditions, the four Honda power units were able to drive around well," Tanabe explained in conversation with AS-Web. So Verstappen's crash was the only blemish on Honda's day, although the Japanese engine supplier had no immediate concerns.

New calendar important for grid penalties.

"That was a spin after he lost the back of his car. We are still looking at what the damage is, but we didn't see anything unusual in the data around the engine". Indeed, the engine situation at Red Bull is tense and damage to the engine was something Verstappen really couldn't afford. "So the two Red Bulls have lost an engine and will incur another penalty. The new calendar will be unveiled soon and then we can see at which Grand Prix we can collect the penalty. We will discuss that with the team."

"We have also introduced a third engine for Gasly and Tsunoda. Verstappen was already suffering a lot from his crash at Silverstone and we probably won't use that engine for a race in the future. We are looking at different options, but I don't think we can fix it completely yet."