Max Verstappen facing ‘definite’ grid penalty after ICE issue in Baku
Max Verstappen says he will 'definitely' take a PU penalty this season
BAKU – Max Verstappen says he’ll “definitely” take an engine penalty before the end of the season, but it won’t be in Baku despite issues with his internal combustion engine during qualifying.
Having set the pace in Friday’s final practice, Verstappen went into qualifying hoping to fight for pole position.
Max Verstappen confirms Red Bull engine penalty is inevitable
Although he was second fastest behind George Russell in Q1 and again in Q2, Verstappen suspected a deployment issue with his Red Bull Powertrain power unit as he couldn’t match the Mercedes driver’s pace.
The problem worsened as qualifying continued, and he dropped to eighth in the pole position shootout.
The Red Bull driver’s best time was 1.555 seconds slower than Russell’s pole position lap.
“Throughout qualifying, already from Q1, I had a problem with the engine, which meant I was losing at least half a second compared to my teammate,” he told the Dutch media as per Motorsport.com. “And it only got worse.
“In Q2 and Q3 it was a complete disaster, so I think we clearly have a problem with the engine.
“In Q1, we immediately saw a problem. Of course, at that point you still think, ‘What could it be? Is the engine too cold or actually too hot?’ All of that is possible, because it is all very sensitive nowadays.
“But later it became clear that we really did have a problem with the ICE. It only got worse and in Q3 that engine was no longer working properly at all.”
Verstappen revealed his RB22 is likely to be fitted with a new engine if Red Bull cannot resolve the issue ahead of Saturday’s Grand Prix.
That, however, won’t come with a penalty as Red Bull will use an engine from his pool.
“Well, if there are still question marks, we have to replace the engine. But we still have another engine available in the pool.”
But it is just a matter of time before the four-time world champion does join the growing list of drivers taking power unit penalties.
“Yeah, there definitely has to be a penalty at some point,” he admitted.
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Asked why Red Bull opted against taking the penalty in Baku given it is a circuit where overtaking is possible, he explained that Formula 1 power unit regulations had made it more difficult.
“The problem is that everyone completely drains the battery on the long straight,” he said. “So you can’t really use the battery to overtake someone, because going from 100 to zero is the same for everyone.”
Verstappen is sixth in the Drivers’ Championship on 145 points, 147 behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
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