Max Verstappen believes Red Bull’s switch to Honda engines next year will prove beneficial, with the Japanese marque able to focus solely on the energy drinks giant pair of teams.
Red Bull announced on Tuesday that it will end its 12-year partnership with Renault, joining sister team Toro Rosso in being powered by Honda next season.
Renault currently powers its own factory team as well as Red Bull and McLaren, and Verstappen reckons the move to Honda will aid Red Bull’s chances.
“Looking at the performance they showed this year and the improvements they made – especially in Canada again – it looked very positive,” said Verstappen.
“They keep improving, putting people in the right places so yeah.
"I believe in it and the team clearly believes in it because they signed the deal.
“And it’s exciting as well when you have Honda working for Red Bull and Toro Rosso only and it’s purely designed around your car. I think that also is very good.”
Verstappen finished on the podium in Canada and it marked the first race weekend that neither his manager nor his family were present.
Verstappen, though, denied that it had an impact on his overall performance.
“There were less people around, I could speak to less people,” he said.
“Of course, maybe I have a few minutes extra to talk to my engineers instead of others, but it doesn’t make a difference to me.
“They were here also when I was winning races, so I don’t think there is something behind it. It was just a weekend alone. I mean I am 20 years old, they don’t need to hold my hand.”
