Marko Blames Engine For Verstappen's Lack Of Performance, Hints At Potential Penalty

Tuesday, 29 October 2024 at 17:00

Helmut Marko admitted Max Verstappen would potentially have to take another penalty for engine change following the P6 in Mexico City.

Max Verstappen missed a major part of the first two practice sessions on Friday ahead of the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix due to issues with his power unit.

When speaking to the media on Friday, the Dutchman didn't think he would have to face another engine penalty and suggested his team would figure it out. Starting from Saturday, Red Bull replaced Verstappen's power unit with an old one from his pool.

This, however, seemed to have hurt his performance during the Grand Prix race on Sunday, according to Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, who told ORF:

"The engine we had in there was no longer intended for the race, and the older an engine gets, the more its performance diminishes."

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Changing the engine would result in a five-place grid penalty for the Dutchman, which isn't that bad as the 81-year-old suggested. Where would he take this penalty? The upcoming sprint weekend in Sao Paulo this week seems to be the best option.

"The penalty would be five places. That wouldn't be so severe in Brazil, for example, where you can overtake relatively easily. But we saw that we were missing three to eight kilometers per hour on the straights."

"More alarming is that we couldn't make the tires work - both medium and hard. We were nowhere near the two front teams, and I guess part of the problem is that Friday, we couldn't drive because of the engine problems."

"We have to do something, that's clear. We also will have a change the engine because we had been so slow on the straight. This engine, which was in the car, was not supposed to be in the car, so most likely Brazil could happen."