Verstappen eager to race with new Renault engine

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has revealed his eagerness to burn rubber with Renault’s new B-spec power unit at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo and Renault driver Kevin Magnussen were the only Renault-powered drivers to use the engine at the Monaco Grand Prix, which took up three engine development tokens.

With the Aussie’s success in Monte Carlo, which saw him claim pole and narrowly losing out to eventual Monaco GP winner Lewis Hamilton, the French manufacturer is now confident that Jolyon Palmer and Verstappen can run the engine.

The Dutch youngster is delighted to have a go with the new engine but realises that it may take some time to familiarise himself with it.

“I’m finally getting the new [Renault] engine so I’m definitely looking forward to that,” Verstappen said.

“You have a bit more horsepower and better driveability so all in all it will give you some laptime.”

Regarding Sunday’s race, the teenager was disappointed with the way the weekend panned out, with him crashing out during qualifiers and the GP.

“I think the beginning of the race was very good, we showed great pace – sometimes the fastest lap around – and I think it was all coming together very well,” he continued.

“We got back into the points and then unfortunately, when we fitted the soft tyres, I made a mistake and hit the wall.

“That is not how you want to end the weekend, especially when your team does a great job to rebuild the car after qualifying. They deserved much more.

“Now, it is to analyse how and what went wrong and why we got into this situation. It is all part of the learning curve and again getting more experience.”