14/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Having admitted that thus far his entire season has been "crap", news that Renault will not be introducing a significant upgrade until next year has left Max Verstappen fearing another year of the same.
Speaking in the wake of Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix which saw the youngster retire after 10 laps with a loss of power, Verstappen told Ziggo Sport: "I could have finished second... or third, if things turned out a little bit less for me. It's completely crap, really."
Asked about the prospects for Baku, he sighed: "I don't care too much. The whole season has already been crap."
However, following Cyril Abiteboul's admission that there will not be a major upgrade to the Renault power unit until next year, Verstappen is fearing another tough season.
"I want to win," he told Dutch TV show Peptalk. "I think the team is able to do this, absolutely. You can see that the car has improved a lot, but now the power has to arrive as well.
"But this year nothing is coming, as you've probably read, so I’m concerned about that. They did promise this, but in the end little has arrived in terms of updates this year. That’s very disappointing. And I’m concerned about next year."
Talking to the official F1 website, though confirming that there will be continued improvements to the power unit, Abiteboul claimed that Renault never promised a major upgrade this year.
"It was Red Bull who said that there would be an upgrade in Baku," he said. "There are upgrades permanently, every single race we are making some small improvements.
"Last year we created a huge expectation and we came with an upgrade that had a big impact," he continued. "But we can't repeat that every year. Now it is all about constant improvements which overall will make a difference, but there is no magic bullet. Every race the engine will become more and more reliable with the program on the dyno progressing.
"Frankly the next big upgrade will be next year. Then we will have a completely new concept. That will make a difference, but as I said 2018."
"This year we wanted to go for the title, as a team, but we are far away from that," sighed Verstappen.