Horner Keeps Door Open for Verstappen’s Engine Penalty

Verstappen Faces Uncertainty: Possible Engine Penalty Looms

26/10/2024

Christian Horner remains cautious, as Red Bull awaits Honda’s findings on potential engine issues that could impact Verstappen’s race weekend.

Is Max Verstappen facing a potential grid penalty due to his engine issue yesterday?

According to Christian Horner, the Team Principal of Red Bull Racing, it appears unlikely, but the Briton didn’t completely dismiss the possibility.

“I don’t think you’re ever fully safe, as we just saw in the last session. But I’m hopeful that it’s just a minor issue.”

“I think this is probably more of a question for our engine partner, whether they feel comfortable reaching the end of the year with the current pool. But we’re always on the edge.”

“We’ll see what Honda discovers and the decision that needs to be made.”

Has he seen enough already to gauge Red Bull’s form in Mexico?

“It’s a different circuit. It’s a different challenge. Obviously, the altitude here means things work a bit differently. We hit a piece of signage that fell from the bridge during the first session, which caused some damage to the floor, but it was repaired quickly. Clearly, we’re lacking data after the first day, especially with the testing we had to conduct for Pirelli with the other car (Perez’s), as Max was hardly able to run in Free Practice 2.”

Last weekend in Austin, Red Bull highlighted that the RB20 had made progress, a point confirmed by Verstappen. How significant was this progress?

“I think it was a positive step, securing pole for the Sprint, winning the Sprint race. We were certainly in contention for pole in the Grand Prix, qualifying on the front row.”

“The area where we fell short was overcompensating for setup changes after the Sprint race, leading into the Grand Prix itself, where we had too much understeer in the car. So, with a Sprint race win and a third-place finish, it was a very positive weekend. And I think the engineers, the design and manufacturing teams, and the supply chain have all worked incredibly hard in the UK, and it’s good to see that performance reflected on the car.”

Horner Keeps Door Open for Verstappen’s Engine Penalty Horner Keeps Door Open for Verstappen’s Engine Penalty

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Full 2025 F1 testing results

Carlos Sainz
1
CARLOS
SAINZ
Leader
Lewis Hamilton
2
LEWIS
HAMILTON
+0.031s
Charles Leclerc
3
CHARLES
LECLERC
+0.083s
George Russell
4
GEORGE
RUSSELL
+0.197s
Max Verstappen
5
MAX
VERSTAPPEN
+0.218s
Alex Albon
6
ALEX
ALBON
+0.302s
Kimi Antonelli
7
KIMI
ANTONELLI
+0.436s
Oscar Piastri
8
OSCAR
PIASTRI
+0.592s
Pierre Gasly
9
PIERRE
GASLY
+0.692s
Lance Stroll
10
LANCE
STROLL
+0.881s
Liam Lawson
11
LIAM
LAWSON
+0.904s
Jack Doohan
12
JACK
DOOHAN
+1.020s
Yuki Tsunoda
13
YUKI
TSUNODA
+1.149s
Isack Hadjar
14
ISACK
HADJAR
+1.327s
Fernando Alonso
15
FERNANDO
ALONSO
+1.352s
Esteban Ocon
16
ESTEBAN
OCON
+1.380s
Lando Norris
17
LANDO
NORRIS
+1.534s
Gabriel Bortoleto
18
GABRIEL
BORTOLETO
+1.709s
Nico Hulkenberg
19
NICO
HULKENBERG
+2.109s
Oliver Bearman
20
OLIVER
BEARMAN
+3.013s

Testing Total Distance Covered by Team

1
Mercedes
458
2
Haas
457
3
Racing Bulls
454
4
Alpine
405
5
Williams
395
6
Ferrari
382
7
McLaren
381
8
Sauber
354
9
Aston Martin
306
10
Red Bull
304
Race Center
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Australian GP
13 Mar - 16 Mar
FP1
14 MAR 01:30
FP2
14 MAR 05:00
FP3
15 MAR 01:30
QU
15 MAR 05:00
RACE
16 MAR 04:00
F1 CALENDAR 2025
Race
Date
Australian Flag
Australian
Albert Park
16 Mar
Chinese Flag
Chinese
Shanghai International
23 Mar
Japanese Flag
Japanese
Suzuka Circuit
6 Apr
Bahrain Flag
Bahrain
Sakhir desert
13 Apr
Saudi Arabia Flag
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street
20 Apr
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