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Red Bull confirms: Verstappen's new engine was replaced in Canada
Max Verstappen did have to trade in his new engine for an old one. Red Bull Racing has just confirmed to Sky Sports that they have changed Verstappen's engine for precautionary measures for FP3 onwards. The news goes against Helmut Marko's stories.
Verstappen saw his second free practice session on Friday end early due to an engine problem. Given it had been made clear before the weekend that Verstappen was driving with a new power unit, concerns were high. Those worries were also with Verstappen himself immediately after the second free practice session.
Major problems for Verstappen
Helmut Marko, however, tried to calm things down. The Austrian informed that it was about Verstappen's old engine and, therefore, nothing was wrong. Before FP3, however, it came out that Verstappen had to go back to old parts anyway, and so his latest engine was indeed damaged.
This rumour, which came out via Auto, Motor und Sport, has now been confirmed by the Austrian racing team. There were reportedly problems with Verstappen's new MGU-H, so the entire engine was replaced with an older one as a precaution.