Max Verstappen’s troubles are mounting as he heads into the Brazilian GP this weekend, facing penalties from the Mexico GP and struggling with his car’s pace.
It has become nearly certain that the Red Bull driver will have to drop down the grid in Brazil due to the need for a fresh power unit. Verstappen’s lead over Lando Norris shrank from 57 points to 47 following the race in Mexico, where he encountered engine issues during both practice sessions.
The team was forced to replace his engine with one from his official allocation, as the original engine was deemed “no longer suitable for racing,” according to Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko. “We were very slow on the straights,” he explained. “So we will take an extra engine, which will most likely happen in Brazil.”
This engine change will incur a five-place grid penalty for Verstappen, but Marko believes that attempting to avoid the penalty could hinder the 27-year-old’s performance even further. “The older an engine gets, the more its performance declines,” he noted.
“A five-place grid penalty is not too severe in Brazil, as overtaking is relatively straightforward there. However, we saw in Mexico that we were about 3-8 kph slower on the straights. We can’t afford another race like that.”
Marko elaborated that the issues began with engine troubles in practice, severely limiting their ability to test different tire compounds. “We could hardly practice at all—with the medium tire or the hard tire. Even if the race on Sunday had gone normally, we still wouldn’t have been able to match the speed of Ferrari and McLaren.”
Given this context, Marko admitted that Verstappen is unlikely to contend for victory at Interlagos. “Qatar is the most promising for a potential win,” he said. “Brazil has a lot of slow corners, which is one of our weaknesses.”