Red Bull’s Verstappen struggling with engine breakdowns

Driver fails to finish six of last 10 races

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM The paradox at Red Bull is baffling: Daniel Ricciardo keeps getting on the podium while teammate Max Verstappen can hardly finish a race.

Verstappen’s early retirement from Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix was the sixth time he failed to finish a Formula One race this season.

Ricciardo’s third place was his sixth podium so far. Since finishing third in China at the second race of the season, Verstappen has failed to finish six of the past 10 races.

He already counts twice as many DNFs — failures to complete a race — as last season, with eight GPs remaining.

When Verstappen made the switch from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in the fifth race of last season, he secured a brilliant win on his team debut at the Spanish GP. He went on to secure six more podiums in a breakthrough season that earmarked him as a future — and potentially multiple — world champion.

With another year left on his Red Bull contract, the 19-yearold Dutchman will hope for far better fortunes in 2018. There will be plenty of offers elsewhere if he grows tired of an increasingly frustrating situation.

“We just need to solve it within the team,” Verstappen said, demanding improvement. “I just want to finish races and have good results ... At the moment I am not a happy person.”

The Italian GP is this weekend, and Verstappen could be hit with grid penalties if the team has to make some more engine changes.

Red Bull uses Renault as its engine supplier, and although the relationship has improved somewhat, it remains a tense one.

Team principal Christian Horner pointed the finger at Renault after Verstappen’s latest incident.

“We pay a hell of a lot of money for the engine,” he said. “They need to sort it out.”

But the curious thing is that Ricciardo, with the same supposedly treacherous engine, is in fine form.

This raises the question as to whether Verstappen’s aggressive driving style may be less suited to the car than his Australian teammate’s more patient approach.