From what I saw they said the drop was the reason for his steering issues...not his retirement. That they are still analyzing but suspect something in fuel pump area.
Not only that, Honda still builds all the engines in Japan, just like in previous years. Red Bull Powertrains is a continuation of the UK branche of Honda Racing Engines, taking care of integration and operations. So basically nothing has changed, just the name and the top management on the UK side are different. Honda will continue to build all the engines for both Red Bull and Alpha Tauri for the next 4 years. This is contrary to the original plan where Honda was to transfer their engine IP to Red Bull Powertrains and production would move to the UK completely. Honda actually changed their minds late last year and offered their continued services, which Red Bull gladly accepted. This was not widely communicated, because Honda did not revert their decision to withdraw their name from the engines.
Actually both Max and Checo retired due to the same fuel flow issue, which was caused by vapor lock due to a certain part in the fuel circuit overheating. So it had nothing to do with the engines itself. Initially RB thought the fuel pumps (which are a standard F1 issue that all the teams have to use) had broken, but it turned out to be a component further down the line that they developed themselves.
They said Mick was find externally. Let's hope his insides didn't get shaken up to much.
Hello; Could it be that karma you were so happy with last week?Practice 3 done. What the hell is wrong with Mercedes?
