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'Honda considers a new engine for Verstappen'
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing would obviously prefer no more grid penalties in the final two races, but Honda thinks otherwise. According to Motorsport.com Honda is considering mounting a fifth internal combustion engine in Max Verstappen's car, which would give the Dutchman a five spot grid penalty.
The Red Bull driver currently holds an eight-point lead in the world championship and will therefore certainly not be happy about a grid penalty. He was given the fourth combustion engine in Russia while Lewis Hamilton was given the fifth engine by Mercedes in Brazil.
Red Bull considered engine change in Qatar
Honda actually wanted to mount the combustion engine in Qatar, as it is a circuit with many overtaking opportunities. The team thought about it for a long time, but in the end they decided not to do it. When Red Bull knew Verstappen would get a grid penalty for the yellow flag infringement they wanted to do the engine change, but it was too late.
Honda will now have to make a trade-off between the grid penalty and the engine's extra performance. A lot is still unclear about the street circuit in Saudi Arabia, so it is still a big question mark whether it is useful to change an engine here. Pirelli has previously indicated that it is a circuit with many fast corners, but that also means fewer overtaking opportunities.