Verstappen might take grid penalty because of Hamilton's broken engine

Max Verstappen previously reported that Red Bull Racing would not be changing their engine before the Italian Grand Prix, and would therefore not be facing the inevitable grid penalty. The usually well informed Auto, Motor und Sport reports that the team is keeping an eye on Mercedes before making a decision.

This is because Lewis Hamilton has only two engines left in his pool. For Hamilton, it was his oldest engine that failed at Zandvoort, while for Verstappen it was his newest engine that failed at Silverstone.

Both teams will keep a close eye on each other in Monza, and wait for the qualifying session before making a decision on whether or not to change the engine. A grid penalty for both Verstappen and Hamilton is thus not yet excluded this weekend. There is a chance that when one takes the penalty, the other will react accordingly. The scenario whereby the title rivals start from the last row together is not inconceivable.

The first to take action will want to wait as long as possible, so as not to give the other a chance to react. Mercedes tried this during the Belgian Grand Prix: the plan was to give Bottas a new engine before the race at Spa-Francorchamps and thus deliberately incur a grid penalty. However, the team waited as long as possible with the engine change, in order to deny Red Bull the chance to do the same with Sergio Perez. However, they ran into problems installing the new engine, so the plan could not be executed.