Verstappen penalised with grid penalty after exceeding annual engine limit
After a disappointing race in Hungary, Max Verstappen is against the odds this weekend in Belgium. The Triple World Champion must serve a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday, with Red Bull fitting a new ICE to his RB20 – surpassing F1’s annual engine limit.
The winds of change are certainly underway in Formula 1. Four teams are now capable of winning races, with last season’s dominance firmly a thing of the past.
For McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari, the change in playing field has been largely positive.
However, the same cannot be said of Red Bull – who are trying desperately to avoid losing more ground.
If they continue losing points to rivals at their current rate, staying ahead in the team’s Championship will become an unsustainable target.
With Hungary’s upgrades yet to yield significant results, Red Bull must optimise their existing package for the time being.
Max Verstappen admitted on Thursday that a penalty was imminent:
“Likely, yeah. But I knew of course that it is coming. It’s not a surprise to me.
“Some tracks naturally are a bit better than others [to take a penalty].
“Of course, on a street circuit, you wouldn’t want to have an engine penalty. So yeah, most likely it will be here.”
A four-team battle at the front
When discussing his situation in more general terms, Verstappen was candid about the challenges ahead:
“If you look at our last few races where we haven’t particularly been the fastest, I wouldn’t say that with 10 places extra, we have a chance of winning.
“But again, a race can always be turned upside down with moments. We have to be open-minded and try to make the best of it.
“That’s what we’ll try to do. At the moment, I also don’t know how competitive we’re going to be here.”
The competitive landscape in F1 evolves from race to race, with certain circuit characteristics suiting more teams better than others.
Unfortunately for Red Bull, the last seven rounds have shown that McLaren are competitive irrespective of track layout or conditions.
Assuming that Mercedes continues to compete at the front, Verstappen could have a hard time on Sunday afternoon.
Still, with such a close field, there will be opportunities for the Dutchman and his title-winning team to mitigate the damage to rivals.
