Max Verstappen will serve a 10-place grid penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix after the Red Bull driver opted to take a new internal combustion engine at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
The Dutchman was set on the back foot in the engine department earlier this season when his power unit failed during free practice in Montreal, and Red Bull have decided that this is the right time to take the hit and serve the penalty.
The Spa circuit presents some of the best overtaking opportunities on the F1 calendar and is often a magnet for grid penalties. Verstappen himself won after taking a 10-place penalty here last season, finishing over 22 seconds clear of his team-mate in P2.
Verstappen’s grid penalty has been an open secret throughout the weekend thus far. Asked about the possibility of a new engine in Spa, he replied: “Likely, yeah. But I knew of course that it is coming. It’s not a surprise to me.”
He then added: “We’ll find out on Sunday how good that is going to be, right? Some tracks naturally are a bit better than others. Of course on a street circuit, you wouldn’t want to have an engine penalty. So yeah, most likely it will be here.”
The three-time world champion was then asked if this was a weekend for damage limitation, rather than looking to end what is now a three-race winless streak. “Probably yes,” he replied. “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.
“Also a few places there’s new tarmac, so we need to see how the tyres respond to that as well. So still a lot of unknowns. Obviously, with the weather, quite a bit of rain expected on Friday and Saturday. So yeah, just need to follow the weather and just progression through the weekend, and see how competitive we are.”
Verstappen isn’t the only driver taking a penalty this weekend. Yuki Tsunoda has changed multiple components outside the permitted allocation on his VCARB machine and will start the Belgian GP from the back of the grid.
