Max Verstappen is bracing himself for potential bad news as Honda becomes increasingly likely to confirm it has lost one of its Formula 1 power units for the 2024 season.
A premature death of a nearly new engine that was removed from his car at the Canadian GP, and is currently being inspected at Honda’s headquarters in Sakura, Japan, would open the door to Verstappen having to add a power unit soon. to your listing.
And, having used its fourth and final internal combustion engine allowed by the regulations in last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, fitting a new one would trigger an automatic 10-place grid penalty.
Such a sanction could be very importantsince the Red Bull driver is immersed in an increasingly tight fight with McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari for victories.
The situation Verstappen finds himself in began to unfold in Montreal earlier this month, when the Dutchman was forced to stop during the second free practice session due to a suspected problem with its energy recovery system.
Although those problems appeared to be electrical, there was concern that they could have caused greater damage to the rest of the power unit, particularly the internal combustion engine element.
The one used in Canada was a new engine (the third of the year) and had been introduced that same morning.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The problem with the ERS led Honda to remove that engine from its car and take it directly to Japan, where it is now being analyzed to find out if it can be saved and return to the track or not.
If the latter is confirmed, it would mean Verstappen would lose a quarter of his full-year allocation with virtually no use, and is potentially why he said in Canada he was worried about the consequences that will have later.
“I think it’s more important to just find out what really happened and what kind of implications it will have for this weekend or the rest of the year,” he said.
But now that Canada’s power unit has been in Japan for more than two weeks, and with no positive news so far, it seems increasingly likely that it will not be able to recover.
If there had been no problems in the first tests, it would almost certainly have been given the go-ahead and returned to Red Bull..
Due to this lack of news, the Milton Keynes team assumed they would lose the Canadian engine and were forced to introduce their fourth power unit at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, just to have enough components in place. the next training sessions and races.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained it this way: “We introduced it [el nuevo motor] because Canada’s power unit has been returned for inspection to Japan.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Confirmation that the engine cannot be used again would mean that Verstappen would be forced to install his fifth power unit very soon, which would trigger a 10-position penalty.
In fact, Horner himself has suggested that he believes that it is now something that his team will have to face without remedy: “We would have to see how it develops in the next races, but I think it is inevitable that we will have to change the engine at some point.” , said.
Red Bull is no stranger to grid penalties, and Until now he has chosen to comply with them in races where overtaking is easiersuch as the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, which will take place before the summer holidays.
Verstappen already knows what it’s like to start from behind there, as he has done it in the last two seasons. Last year he won starting sixth, while in 2022 he also took the victory despite starting 14th.
However, with Red Bull no longer having the advantage it had in the past, the comeback could be more dramatic this time. In turn, it would be great news for McLaren and Lando Norris, who appear to be Red Bull’s most consistent rivals so far and could take a lot of points off their rival if that ends up happening.
