Verstappen getting ‘sick of it’ after double DNF

Max Verstappen has said he is getting “sick of it” after two back-to-back races in Italy ended with DNFs and zero points.

The Dutchman was on a run of six straight podium finishes heading to Italy but that hot streak has suddenly turned cold due to unreliability with the Honda engine.

The issues started for Verstappen on his way to the grid at Mugello, with a flurry of activity going on around his car ahead of lights out.

Verstappen was given assurances that the problem was fixed but, after a perfect launch, he started going backwards and was sucked into the midfield.

It went from bad to worse for him as he was caught in multi-car collision soon after and got beached in the gravel trap.

But, even without that impact, it appeared Verstappen’s race was done anyway as the technical gremlins returned.

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“It seems that it was the same problem as last week in Monza,” Verstappen told Ziggo Sport after the race.

“The start was good, but when I went full throttle, I had that problem again. I could already feel it on the way to the grid.

“It is not normal for it to happen two races in a row. At the moment I’m sick of it. It doesn’t matter that much to me anymore.”

On getting caught in traffic and subsequently hit, he added: “That’s what you get when you end up in situations like that. I would have dropped out anyway.”

Honda are investigating Verstappen’s engine issue back at HQ.

“We’re now investigating the cause of the issue,” Honda F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe told The Race.

“At the moment I cannot tell you if we could continue, or we had to retire.

“But the issue is not small. The impact was big. So, it was a very bad situation.”

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