Red Bull: Honda have "found and resolved" engine reliability issue

©RedBull

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says Honda have "found and resolved" the reliability issue that deprived Max Verstappen of a solid bag of points in Australia.

The Dutchman suffered in Melbourne a fuel leak while running second to future race winner Charles Leclerc, a problem that forced the reigning world champion into his second retirement in three races.

Unfortunately, the pair of DNFs have left Verstappen sixth in F1's Drivers' standings, 46 points behind Ferrari's Leclerc who leads the championship ahead of this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

But the Red Bull charger will hopefully be spared more reliability woes at Imola, thanks to Honda's intervention.

©RedBull

"Yeah, we've been working with our colleagues at HRC in Japan and they have found the issue, they've resolved it and I believe we have a fix for this weekend," said Horner, speaking to Sky Sports F1.

"It was just very, very unfortunate. [It was] a part that had done tens of thousands of kilometres, without ever having an issue. But, unfortunately, [the issue] appeared at exactly the wrong time in Australia."

This weekend's round of racing in Italy will prove important for Red Bull and its star driver who will start the Sprint race from pole.

Thanks to F1's new sporting regulations, 8 points will be on offer for the winner of Saturday's 30-minute dash which, added to Sunday's maximum tally, including a point for fastest lap, means that 34 championship points are on offer this weekend.

"It's an important weekend for us," confirmed Horner. "There are a lot of points available this weekend and we want to make sure that we're there to capitalize.

"We can't afford for the gap to grow, again, to Ferrari, so we need to start eroding it rather than seeing it grow."

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