Honda disappointed: 'It is hugely frustrating'

"For the second consecutive race, we lost the chance to compete at the front with Red Bull Racing Honda, through no fault of our own," Tanabe told his employer afterwards. "It is hugely frustrating. Checo suffered too much damage to continue in the first corner incident and Max’s car was also very badly damaged. But the mechanics did a fantastic job during the red flag period and so he was able to continue and also push the car hard, although it was still damaged."

Verstappen eventually finished in tenth place, good for one World Cup point. He finished below both cars of AlphaTauri. "Both Scuderia AlphaTauri drivers did a good job of avoiding the chaos after the start and raced on patiently. Pierre finished sixth while Yuki was seventh, equalling his best result so far this year. The team has slipped down the order in the Constructors’ classification, but both drivers did a solid job to bring back a good points."

Honda aims to take World Championship title

In four weeks' time the season will resume in Belgium with the GP at Spa-Francorchamps."We now have the summer break, resuming racing at the end of August. It’s a shame we have not finished the first half on a high note, but we will now pause briefly to return refreshed,  getting back to work, analysing everything from the first part of the season, being even more motivated to keep fighting for the title and more wins," said Tanabe.