Although the results in the Mexican Grand Prix last Sunday were not what was expected Max Verstappen after being penalized with 20 seconds for colliding twice with the British Lando Norris and finish sixth, the Dutch driver continues in first place in the standings, but will have to stage a comeback in Brazil to be able to revalidate the world title that has been won on three consecutive occasions since 2021.
“Those 20 seconds were too long, but I’m not going to cry. My biggest problem today was that I didn’t have rhythm. That was clear on the medium and hard tires. The two incidents with Norris are not my problem either. The problem is that Red Bulls are slow and that’s why I put myself in those types of situations. That’s my problem,” commented the three-time champion at the end of the race in the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome from Mexico City.
However, he did not have the new penalty that he will have to face, due to the decision he has made. Red Bull. In Sao Paulo, the team has already confirmed that it will install a new part after changing its engine in the Mexican GP. All this was considered after suffering problems during free practice.
“We are currently investigating whether we will be able to use the engine again with the leak but, also in this case, the mileage no longer allows its use. We cannot avoid a change of power unit in Brazilwith the corresponding sanction,” he indicated Helmut Markoadvisor to the Austrian team.
Because of this, Verstappenwill have to start five positions below of what he manages to do in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, which could tighten the classification much more with four races remaining. This new sanction is added to the ten positions that he had to assume in the Belgian Grand Prixfor mounting a new component for the first time. “When a Formula 1 engine has reached a certain number of kilometers, the reduction in performance is clearly noticeable,” concluded Marko.
In the fight for the title
Despite the bad result in the Mexican GP, Max Verstappen adds 362 points in the driver classification, which keeps him at the top and with a distance of 47 on Lando Norris. However, with four races left, anything can happen and the Dutch driver cannot let his guard down.
For its part, Red Bull is getting further and further away from the Constructors’ World Championship. After the triumph of Carlos Sainz in Mexico, Ferrari he did a double again on the podium with Charles Leclerc being third, so the Italian team has 537 points, 25 more than the Austrian team, and was 29 away from equaling the leader, McLaren.
