Bad news for Max Verstappen. Reliability has been one of Red Bull’s keys during these last few years of dominance, but when things get tight, problems arise. In Canada, the three-time world champion A new power unit was installed and it had to be replaced due to electrical failures.
According to many informations, Honda’s inspection of this new Max engine does not give a good feeling and it is very likely that Red Bull will have to discard itA big blow for the Austrian team, because that unit was practically new and lasted only a few minutes.
Now, with 4 power units already assembled without having reached the middle of the season, the energy drinks team is clear that They will have to face, at least, a penalty if the worst news for them is confirmedsince the limit of power units that can be assembled in a season is 4. With so many races ahead, It would be too optimistic on the part of the current champions to think that they can reach the final of the season without putting in a fifth engine.
Engine problems
Max Verstappen was forced to pit in the second free practice session in Montreal for, a priori, a problem in energy recovery. The problems seemed to be electrical, but from the beginning they feared the worst, that the internal combustion engine could be affected.
“We introduced the new engine, because the power unit from Canada has been returned for inspection to Japan,” explained Christian Horner after free practice, which already indicated that the problem could be more serious. And yes, in the absence of confirmation, it seems that they will not be able to use that new engine again.
Where will Verstappen penalize?
When one more power unit is mounted than permitted by the regulations, F1 penalizes you with 10 places on the grid. In recent years, they had no problems in the Austrian team, since they took penalties, but they were so superior that they came back easily. Now, with the World Cup tighter than ever and with the rivals very close, They will have to choose the best possible circuit to not lose many points.
It is not a decision that can be made lightly, as there are two championships at stake. Regarding the pilots, it is not something that should have them very worried, because Verstappen’s cushion with Norris and Leclerc is very large. Of course, in the Constructors’ World Championship they are not so good and even less so now that McLaren is at the same level as them and with a Czech who is not at his best. Red Bull’s concern is, above all, knowing if it was something specific or it could happen again in the future, which could lead to serious problems.
Normally, teams tend to penalize on circuits where overtaking is easy. Austria is one of them, but above all Spa and Monza are the two tracks where there is usually a festival of penalties for engine changes. The problem with Austria is that there is a Sprint Race, so it is almost out of the question that they will do it here. But if it is made official that they have to throw away that engine, it is almost certain that in Belgium or Italy, Max will start several positions behind, since otherwise they would have to do it on circuits where overtaking is complicated.
