Max Verstappen will be sent to the back of the grid next weekend at Monza if the Dutchman takes on a new Honda power unit, but the Red Bull charger insists a back-row start is “no big deal”.
At Spa, Honda introduced its Spec 4 engine which was allocated to Red Bull’s Alex Albon and Toro Rosso’s Dany Kvyat. However, only the latter used the engine on race day.
Red Bull has yet to decide whether to add the updated engine to Verstappen’s pool of units, but team boss Christian Horner said in Spa that the prospect was “most likely”.
-
Verstappen: Poor race starts a ‘mystery’ Honda must solve
“We’ll make that decision during the week. But most likely we’ll discuss with Honda and see what their thoughts are,” said Horner.
“I think it’s encouraging from what we saw on Friday, the data we got from Kvyat running the new engine, that progress is definitely being made and delivering what is expected.”
With ample opportunities to overtake at Monza, Verstappen believes he can easily make headway on race day starting from the rear.
©RedBull