The championship leader, Max Verstappen, it's a lot close to receiving a penalty on the starting grid because – almost certainly – he will have to clear the fifth power unit before the end of the season. Red Bull he no longer received any news about engine number 3. The latter was used by Max in Canada during the Friday sessions, but during PL2 it had started to smoke, worrying the technicians.
Verstappen close to penalty for missing the 5th power unit's marker
During the Free Trials 2 a Montreal, from engine hood of car #1 smoke was coming out. This forced the Red Bull driver to return to the pits and get out of the car. The problem initially found was that of failure of the PU MGU-K brand new and had only been fitted a few hours earlier.
Unit number 3 was dismantled and sent to Sakura, so that the Japanese technicians could verify whether the MGU-K had failed impact also on the endothermic engine. However, no type of news seems to have arrived from the Honda research center for the Milton Keynes team.
Il silence fa to fear that the PU RBPT H002 is no longer recoverable. The aura of uncertainty that was created pushed the Austrian team to bring a new PU in Barcelona, the fourth. This was done for guarantee to the 3 times World Champion one availability of components to proceed with the rotations planned for the next stages.
Will the penalty be triggered in Belgium?
Verstappen will – most likely – have to use one fifth power unit to end the season and for this reason it would be close to receive one penalty: 10 positions on the starting grid. Red Bull will manage the penalty well, choosing a circuit that can facilitate overtaking.
In the past two seasons, Max has always reached the maximum number of units available to each driver, incurring penalties. In the Last year's Belgian GP received 5 positions on the grid for the replacement of an engine component, starting from 6th position he managed to win the race.
In 2022, always on the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, set off from 14th place (again due to the penalty), but conquered however the highest step of the podium. This year Red Bull is no longer a superpower unbeatable and who knows what one penalty of the winged bull cannot favor the victory of a McLaren increasingly protagonist in this part of the season?
SOURCE: Motorsport.com
