While Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies did not reveal exactly how much lap time the new Honda engine was worth for Max Verstappen in Brazil, he admitted that the F1 2025 grid is tight enough \u201cfor everything to be important.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes at a time when McLaren expressed intrigue over whether that new power unit will count against Red Bull\u2019s cost cap allowance.<\/p>\n
New Max Verstappen engine triggers McLaren F1 Commission action<\/p>\n
Red Bull endured a nightmare qualifying at Interlagos, with both Max Verstappen<\/a> and Yuki Tsunoda eliminated in Q1. That prompted Red Bull to overhaul the setup on Verstappen\u2019s RB21 for the race, and also fit a new power unit. This breach of parc ferm\u00e9 regulations meant that Verstappen started from the pit lane.<\/p>\n It proved an inspired choice, as Verstappen delivered a stunning drive to the podium, crossing the line in P3. However, the engine change in particular left McLaren with question marks over how that would be represented in Red Bull\u2019s season expenditure under the cost cap.<\/p>\n McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told the media in Brazil that \u201cthese kinds of power unit changes challenge the regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI will be interested in understanding if the cost of this engine now goes in the cost cap or not.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the engine was changed for performance reasons, it should go in the cost cap.\u201d<\/p>\n Stella\u2019s comments indicated that a distinction exists between performance and reliability-related engine changes when it comes to compliance with the F1 cost cap.<\/p>\n The system has been in place since 2021, and enforces a maximum budget which teams cannot spend beyond during a season.<\/p>\n Following the race, Red Bull Racing boss Laurent Mekies was asked just how much Verstappen gained from the new engine, with his drive to P3 having kept his, albeit now slim, title hopes alive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to say,\u201d he replied. \u201cIt\u2019s always good to fit a new engine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that in the last part of the season, we were on schedule to finish the year without needing the change, but we just felt that we would take the opportunity, mainly because we wanted to change the car again.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s difficult to give you a number, but you know, everything, the gaps are small enough for everything to be important.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Max Verstappen from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Max Verstappen won\u2019t go down without a fight<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Data reveals true brilliance of Max Verstappen\u2019s Brazilian GP<\/a><\/p>\n Verstappen was denied second only by the impressive defensive driving of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, who scored his best result yet in Formula 1 with second.<\/p>\n Mekies is convinced that Verstappen would have been fighting McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris for the victory had it not been for that qualifying disaster for the team.<\/p>\n \u201cCredit to Max for the sensational drive,\u201d he said. \u201cHe won last year here from P16 on the wet, and I think we will probably agree that it was as sensational as last year, to bring it to P3 from the pit lane on a dry, relatively uneventful race.<\/p>\n \u201cThe simple truth is that we were not happy with where the car was in terms of car balance and the driver\u2019s feeling, after the Sprint race. We had finished P4, but it was effectively a P5 without those car stoppages, and nobody wanted to settle for a car that would have been at that level. We felt the optimum window was not where we were.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tried our only card at that moment, to change it before the main qualifying.<\/p>\n \u201cWe obviously got it wrong, but it\u2019s the way we go racing. We take risks, and if we don\u2019t take that amount of risk, we don\u2019t think we\u2019ll be able to win. So we took that risk. It didn\u2019t work. It\u2019s painful. We got the qualy wrong, and that\u2019s what it is.<\/p>\n \u201cBut again, we have taken a lot of this risk in the past few months. I insist it is the way this team goes racing. That\u2019s such a spirit in Oracle Red Bull Racing. We had our highs and lows. We had a very difficult Budapest, I\u2019m sure you recall. We had some good highs, and then after that, we made the decision to change the car again, fit a new PU as well, and try to put the car in a better window.<\/p>\n \u201cThe car was alive today. That\u2019s the most important thing. The car was probably good enough to fight for the win today, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re after, after the relatively average result of the Sprint.<\/p>\n \u201cI think in the race, with the different starting positions, I think we would have been in the fight with Lando.\u201d<\/p>\n Norris completed the Sprint and Grand Prix double at Interlagos to go 24 points clear of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri at the top of the Drivers\u2019 Championship<\/a>. Verstappen is now 49 points adrift of Norris with three grands prix and one Sprint remaining.<\/p>\n