Horner says it’s inevitable Verstappen will take an engine penalty this year

Max Verstappen will have to take a power unit penalty at some stage of the current Formula 1 season as a result of problems suffered earlier in the year.

The championship leader had to take a new power unit during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend after an issue in Friday practice. Following the decision to take a new power unit on Sergio Perez’s car at Silverstone -- with the Mexican already starting at the back of the grid -- Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says at some stage there will be a similar penalty for Verstappen.

“I’m sure at some point we’ll end up taking an extra engine for Max,” Horner said. “It’s just a question of when you choose strategically to do that. So we’ll work with Honda on that. Inevitably, we will take a penalty at some point in the year.”

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Verstappen has extended his championship lead to 84 points over the past five races despite only winning two of those, and Horner believes the fluctuating form that has seen four teams winning in 2024 is down to getting performance out of different tire compounds.

“Lots of data and information to take out of that, to understand where these big fluctuations [come from]," Horner said, "because at different points in time, different cars looked quick. One minute, it started off as Mercedes, then it looked like McLaren had everything under control, and then suddenly, second half of the race, Max started coming back and very nearly won it. For the fans... a fantastic race. But obviously a lot to try and understand where the fluctuations are coming from.

“I think it's all about these tires. I think it's all about the tire working at a certain point in time, certain condition, whether it’s hot or cold. Different cars working the tires in different ways, and you saw an extremity of that as a circuit [Silverstone] obviously went from damp to wet to damp to back to dry.”

Despite the difficulty of trying to understand the competitive order and fight off challenges from multiple teams from a Red Bull perspective, Horner admits it's a scenario that is good for the sport as a whole.

“I think Formula 1 can’t be in a better place at the moment. If you look at the last five or six races, we’ve had Lewis [Hamilton], we’ve had Lando [Norris], we’ve had Max, we’ve had Charles Leclerc… It’s moving around," he noted. "And the only one that’s managed to be there consistently, has been Max. So I think the sport, you can see by the crowds that it’s delivering and so on, and I’m sure Lewis’s win was a very popular win in front of a home crowd.”