Penalty for Max Verstappen? Red Bull Racing team principal Mekies explains the background

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli has already been hit with one; for Baku winner George Russell, it’s only a matter of time; and Max Verstappen won’t be able to avoid it either – a grid penalty for fitting new engine components.

This is perfectly normal in the final third of a Formula 1 season and often shakes things up in a refreshing way ahead of a Grand Prix. All the teams are analysing when the grid penalty will hurt the least. Kimi Antonelli was given a fresh power unit for his home race at Monza – and even stormed to victory from P19!

Four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen stated in Baku: “I know a grid penalty is coming my way, it’s just that the when is still unclear.”

But comebacks like Antonelli’s in Monza are rare, as Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies is well aware. The Frenchman spoke about the upcoming penalty for Max Verstappen during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Mekies says: “It’s not yet clear how we’ll proceed. It will depend very much on the outcome of our analysis of the problems we had with Max’s engine during qualifying in Baku; the engine we had to swap for the race with another unit from our pool, and on whether or not we can use that combustion engine again. On that basis, we’ll see if we can make it to the end of the season with his fourth power unit.”

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What happened in the Baku qualifying session? Mekies: “We had two different problems with the power unit, and that cost us dearly. Fortunately, with the other engine in the race, we regained the level of competitiveness we’d been aiming for, which meant Max was able to secure second place.”