Why Verstappen is right to be very worried about his engine problem

Red Bull Racing installed a new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger (TC), MGU-H, and MGU-K in Max Verstappen's and Sergio Perez's cars prior to the race weekend in Canada. Drivers are allowed to use four of these four components each in an entire season. However, in the ninth GP weekend of 2024, Red Bull already installed the third variant of these components here.

With that, before the season is even halfway through, Verstappen and Perez are already coming up against the limit of the maximum number of parts they can use in a year. Using more parts results in a grid penalty. In a championship that seems to be getting more and more exciting, that is not something Verstappen and Red Bull want.

Why Verstappen is worried

The ERS problems in Canada make this situation even more annoying for Verstappen. Smoke was coming out of his car, and the team was unable to send the Dutchman back onto the track. Red Bull is investigating the engine and what exactly could have happened. If this engine, or parts of it, can no longer be used, Verstappen will have to use old parts or use his fourth part.

Verstappen already described his main concerns immediately after the session: "It's more important to just figure out what actually happened and what kind of implications that will have for this weekend or the rest of the year." In doing so, Verstappen already seemed to hint at the grid penalties that may follow, but Verstappen will also be critical of Red Bull Racing's quality control.

In Australia, Verstappen was already critical of his team. That was when the Dutchman retired because the team made a mistake that caused brake problems. Paul Monaghan, in an interview with GPblog, would later describe it as a process where the problem was never discovered. Now, Red Bull will have to discover the problem, though possibly too late.

Red Bull is going to make more and more mistakes

It's one thing for Verstappen to come to a standstill, but the problems may damage the engine and car, which is a bigger problem. After all, this could, in turn, affect the rest of the season, something Verstappen was immediately aware of after practice.

On top of that, Red Bull is already in a down phase. Monaco had been a "wake-up call" for the team, according to Max Verstappen. They had had good discussions with each other in the following weeks to resolve the problems. Still, track time is needed to get to know Canada's bumpy circuit in order to ensure that Red Bull can perform better than in Monaco.

That track time was now also limited. Verstappen got to 10 laps in FP1 and only four in FP2. Compared to his rivals, that is nothing at all. Oscar Piastri managed 27 laps around the track in both sessions, Lando Norris 29, Charles Leclerc drove 35 and Carlos Sainz 38. So, as Verstappen also pointed out, they were able to learn more from the track in dry and rainy conditions.

Verstappen's concerns after Friday in Canada are, therefore, more than justified. Red Bull Racing seems to be coming under increasing pressure and making increasing mistakes as a result. How big the problems are will become clear on Saturday, but it is anything but a good start to the weekend.