Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start this weekend’s race in Russia at the back of the grid after switching out their power units.
Verstappen already had a three-place grid penalty for Russia after his collision in Monza with Lewis Hamilton – stewards decided the Red Bull was the main cause of their coming together.
The Red Bull team knew they could be subject to another penalty heading into the weekend as the team considered replacing Verstappen’s damaged engine from the past Silverstone crash.
“We are limited on the engine side,” team official Dr. Helmut Marko previously told RTL.
“We have to replace the engine somewhere in the coming races because of the damage to the Silverstone engine.
“We will wait for qualifying, we’ll wait for the weather, and then we’ll make a decision.”
This afternoon the team confirmed they switched out the engine and would be starting the race at the back of the grid.
Joining Verstappen at the back will be Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who also has new power unit elements on board for this weekend.
Ferrari said the new hybrid system is being tested “to gain experience for the 2022 car project.”
In a statement the team said; “A great deal of effort has gone into this, both technically and logistically, and so as to be able to use it as soon as possible, its introduction will be staggered between the drivers.
“Charles will be the first to have the new hybrid system. This decision is a precautionary measure relating to the potential risk of using the battery pack damaged in his Hungarian GP accident.
“In Sochi, Leclerc will have a brand new power unit and will therefore start from the back of the grid. As to when the updated hybrid system is fitted to Carlos’ car, that will be decided following an evaluation of the right compromise between competitiveness and the impact of the penalty.”
