Max Verstappen braced for ‘inevitable’ grid penalty after Honda engine inspection

Max Verstappen is facing an ‘inevitable’ engine penalty

Taking his fourth and final internal combustion engine of the season in Spain, Max Verstappen is facing more bad news with a report Honda are likely to confirm his Canadian GP engine can not be salvaged.

For this year’s championship the drivers all have four internal combustion engines, turbochargers, MGU-H and MGU-Ks. Verstappen had the fourth of each installed at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen braced for an ‘inevitable’ engine penalty

Taking one more of any of those parts would trigger an automatic grid penalty, and it’s a reality that Verstappen is facing.

According to Motorsport.com, although Honda are still inspecting the engine that was removed from his RB20 after an issue in Friday’s second practice in Montreal, it is becoming “increasingly likely” that it will be scrapped from his pool of engine parts.

Verstappen was forced to return to the pits after just laps in FP2 in Montreal and called for Red Bull to “get the fans, I smell a bit of smoke.”

His stoppage was caused by a suspected Energy Recovery System problem with the Dutchman voicing his concerns “what kind of implications that will have for this weekend or the rest of the year.”

Although it was an electrical issue, the report claims there are ‘concerns’ that it caused ‘wider damage’ to the rest of the power unit and therefore won’t be returned to Verstappen’s pool for the remainder of the season.

The problem in Canada meant he also moved onto his fourth ICE for the season in Spain, along with various other engine parts, putting him on the limit for four components.

Team boss Christian Horner admits Verstappen won’t see out the next 14 races without an engine grid penalty.

“We’d have to see how it plays out over the coming races, but I think it’s inevitable that we’ll take the next engine at some point,” he said.

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Max Verstappen urges Red Bull to find ‘that little bit more’

Engine penalties could play a role in what is shaping up to be a closer-than-expected championship.

Although Verstappen has seven wins and a 69-point advantage, two of his victories were close calls with Lando Norris on his rear wing at the line.

Verstappen admits it will come down to development, and who can extract more performance from their car.

“I think at the moment we just need to try and find that little bit more to comfortably win,” he said.

“Because I think if you look at our last few wins, it’s been more about just being there at the right moment, at the right time, making the right calls and being quite strong as a team.”

“I always knew that it was going to be very close,” he added. “And McLaren is just doing a really, really good job. They have brought a lot of good updates to their car, and it really just seems to work.

“From our side, we have brought things to the car, but probably not as much lap time as what others have been bringing to their car. So now it’s up to us to try and find a bit more, try to get that little jump ahead again.

“Because I think clearly today, we just lacked a bit of that outright pace, but also just when we had to push, we just couldn’t look after the tyres like Lando, for example, could.

“So these kind of things are quite crucial on most of the tracks where you have a bit of deg. So yeah, we need to try and be better on that.”

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