Get ready! There’s a lot of buzz surrounding Max Verstappen’s engine situation at the Belgian Grand Prix. Here are the highlights:
- Verstappen took a 10-place grid drop due to a new engine.
- Rumors swirled about the old engine being re-fitted.
- Christian Horner denied the engine swap speculation.
- Despite penalties, Verstappen aims for a podium finish.
Max Verstappen will start the Belgian Grand Prix with a 10-place grid drop. This penalty came after Red Bull introduced a fifth internal combustion engine for the season, breaking the limit of four.
The speculation? People thought Red Bull might have swapped Verstappen’s new engine with an old one. Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz noted that the back was off Verstappen’s car during a curfew break, fueling the rumors.
Was Red Bull saving the new engine for future races like Zandvoort and Monza? Kravitz wondered aloud if the team wanted a fresher engine for these important events.
Christian Horner quickly shut down the gossip. He clarified to Sky F1, ‘No, we’ve left it in. So we’ve introduced the engine here because we had to introduce another engine over the next three or four races.’
Horner added that Spa’s track is good for overtaking, making it the right place to add the new engine. ‘The overtaking delta here is less than other venues,’ he said.
This isn’t Verstappen’s first rodeo with engine penalties at Spa. He faced similar penalties the past two years but still managed to win from P14 in 2022 and P6 last year.
However, Red Bull is up against tougher competition from McLaren and Mercedes this time. Horner admitted that a win might be tough, and the goal is a podium finish.
Horner remained realistic, stating, ‘With the conversions we’ve seen in the pace, you haven’t got big deltas between the cars. So to win the race from wherever he qualifies will be very, very hard.’
Only time will tell if Verstappen can overcome these challenges at Spa.
Source: Planetf1
