Red Bull chose third engine: 'It forced Honda to be cautious'

Max Verstappen had to replace his engine during the Hungarian Grand Prix. His team chose not to put the first engine back in his car, but to use a third version.

According to Auto, Motor und Sport, it is completely logical that the Austrian racing team made this choice. "Sakura's development department wanted to wait with maximum force until the first engines had completed most of their cycle," the medium writes. "The feat of building a completely new powertrain in nine months forced Honda to be cautious. In addition, there would be a new specification for the turbocharger from the first to the second power unit."

There were even more reasons to be mentioned. "This is supported by the fact that in Hungary, after the damage to Verstappen's accident engine, Honda did not go back to version 1, but used the third engine. This had the same specification as the second. This meant Verstappen retained his place on the grid."

However, the Red Bull driver had a lot of bad luck during his race in Hungary. Verstappen ended up with damage to his car after just the first corner due to a mistake made by Valtteri Bottas and therefore had to settle for a tenth place finish.