Red Bull change Verstappen’s motor for Hungarian GP

The ripples from Max Verstappen’s crash in the previous race continued Sunday morning as Honda tweeted they had replaced the engine on the championship leader’s Red Bull at the Hungarian Grand Prix. 

Verstappen flew out of the British Grand Prix on July 18 after a first-lap collision with Lewis Hamilton who went on to win the race. 

The bad feeling continued on Saturday as Mercedes locked up the front row at the Hungaroring with Verstappen third. After the session Honda checked the power unit (PU).

“During post-qualifying checks we noticed something on Max’s PU that might have developed over the weekend,likely to be an after-affect of the Silverstone crash,” Honda Racing F1 wrote on Twitter. 

“We have therefore changed it for a new PU of the same specification. According to the regulations, Max is allowed to start from his third grid position on the grid with no penalty incurred.” it concluded.

While Verstappen was not hurt in the Silverstone crash his car was destroyed. 

In Hungary, Red Bull started the weekend with the same engine same engine. After Friday’s practice Honda announced that the PU was working “normally”.  

The weekend has already been dominated by the continuing war of words between Red Bull, who insist Hamilton was inadequately punished for the Silverstone incident, and Mercedes.

The victory at Silverstone allowed reigning champion Hamilton to cut Verstappen’s championship lead to eight points.