Red Bull receive power boost in further blow to rivals Spanish GP hopes
Max Verstappen aerial Red Bull. Azerbaijan April 2023
Red Bull have pulled the trigger on introducing their first allotted new power units of the season for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez at the Spanish Grand Prix.
While Red Bull’s reliability has not been flawless in F1 2023, as Verstappen can attest to based on his qualifying woes in Saudi Arabia, the Red Bull Powertrains-Honda power unit has been on its best behaviour.
But as the season moves on to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for Round 7 of the season, Red Bull has taken the plunge and introduced complete new power units for Verstappen and Perez ahead of the race weekend.
That means the title-battling duo will each have a new Internal Combustion Engine, Turbocharger, MGU-H, and MGU-K, the first new PUs taken for both drivers with four permitted for the season.
This certainly does not spell good news for the chasing pack, who have watched on as Red Bull claimed six wins from six to start the season, Verstappen most recently taking the chequered flag in Monaco with a margin of 28 seconds over Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
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It is not only Verstappen and Perez taking on new PUs for the race weekend though, with McLaren affording the same luxury for Lando Norris who will have a fresh Mercedes PU bolted into that McLaren MCL60.
Elsewhere, Alonso has taken a new Energy Store and Control Electronics for his home race, while Williams’ Logan Sargeant also has a fresh Energy Store and Control Electronics.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg has joined the party by also taking a new Control Electronics, while Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri has a new exhaust.
For Norris this is his third PU of the 2023 campaign, while the new exhaust on Piastri’s McLaren is his fourth of eight allowed.
The new components for Alonso, Hulkenberg and Sargeant all mark their first new offerings of the campaign.
