26/08/2021
NEWS STORY
Honda reveals that having 'lost' their second engines, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are both going to face grid penalties at some stage.
The Dutch driver's engine was found to be irreparably damaged following the infamous clash with Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone, while the Mexican's was also damaged in the subsequent crash involving Valtteri Bottas in Hungary.
"We lost a power-unit for each driver and it looks like we will have around 22-23 races on the current basis, so we must think our PU strategy accordingly," Honda's F1 technical director, Toyoharu Tanabe confirmed at Spa today.
Verstappen is already on his third internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K, while, heading into this weekend, Perez was on his second units.
Assuming that F1 is able to put its planned 23 race schedule together, this means that with 12 races remaining both drivers are inevitably facing grid penalties at some stage.
The Mercedes power unit is proving to be its usual bulletproof self, with the German team's only retirements being the result of Bottas' crashes at Imola and Hungary and his infamous wheel nut issue in Monaco. Indeed, teammate, Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to have completed every single racing lap this season.
Asked where he might opt to take his grid penalty, Verstappen told reporters: "I can't say anything about that now. We don't know yet."
Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc is in a similar situation, Ferrari having confirmed that the youngster's engine was irreparably damaged in the first lap clash with Lance Stroll in Hungary.
Check out our Thursday gallery from Spa, here.