Blow for Max Verstappen as Brazil F1 grid penalty ‘cannot be avoided’

Max Verstappen is set to take a grid penalty at this weekend’s F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

That is according to Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, who seemingly confirmed Verstappen will need to change his engine and trigger a grid drop in Brazil this weekend.

Verstappen, who took a grid penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix after moving onto his fifth power unit of the season, looks set for more penalty pain at Interlagos after engine issues thwarted his Friday in Mexico City last weekend.

“Verstappen’s Mexico weekend got off to a bad start on Friday with a leak in the engine’s intake tract,” Marko said in his regular Speedweek column.

“As a result, Max was unable to drive in both the first and second practice sessions.

“The lack of driving time is part of the reason why we were not competitive in the race, especially with the hard tyres.

“We had the fifth-fastest car behind the two Ferraris and the McLaren. On the medium Pirelli we were still halfway there, but with both compounds, the tyre wear was worse than that of our competitors.

“The pace was also not good because, due to the aforementioned engine problem, a different power unit had to be fitted that had reached the end of its cycle and was not actually planned for racing at all.

“That was one of the reasons why we were one of the slowest cars on the straights. When a Formula 1 engine has reached a certain number of kilometers, the loss of power is clearly noticeable.

“We are currently investigating whether we could use the engine with the leak again. But here, too, the mileage means that it is no longer intended to be used.

“All this means that we cannot avoid changing the engine in Brazil, with a corresponding penalty.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner addressed the possibility of a future grid penalty last time out in Mexico.

"I don't think you're ever safe, as we had just seen in the last session [FP1], but hopefully, that's just a small issue,” he said.

“I think it's something, probably more of a question for our engine partner [Honda] as to how comfortable they feel getting to the end of the year. But you're always always on the limit.”

It would mark a blow for Verstappen, who saw his championship lead over Lando Norris shrink to 47 points with four races remaining after he was hit with a 20-second penalty and finished sixth in Mexico.