Max Verstappen looks set to take a grid penalty for the Brazilian Grand Prix in a boost to Lando Norris’ title aspirations.
Norris kept his chances of winning the Formula 1 championship alive on Sunday by finishing ahead of Verstappen in Mexico and narrowing the gap in the standings to 47 points.
With just four races to go, it seems very likely that the drivers’ title will go the way of the Dutchman, though Norris’ McLaren team are leading the constructors’ championship ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull.
The Brit will need big results in the remaining grand prix this year if he is to complete the most unlikeliest of comeback triumphs and it seems he will start this weekend’s race with an advantage over his rival.
Red Bull have all but confirmed that Verstappen will take an engine change before the end of the season which will result in a five-place grid penalty.
Such a penalty is very likely to take place in Brazil given that the Interlagos circuit provides the best overtaking chances of the remaining four tracks on the calender, meaning the penalty won’t be so harshly felt.
Red Bull chief Helmut Marko confirmed the news on Monday, saying engine issues had affected Verstappen in Mexico, where he finished sixth after being twice penalised for forcing Norris off the track, with the Brit coming home second.
‘We were nowhere near the two front teams, and I guess part of the problem is that Friday, we couldn’t drive because of the engine problems,’ Marko said.
‘We have to do something, that’s clear. We also will have a change the engine because we had been so slow on the straight.
‘This engine, which was in the car, was not supposed to be in the car, so most likely Brazil could happen. The engine we had in there was no longer intended for the race, and the older an engine gets, the more its performance diminishes.
‘The penalty would be five places. That wouldn’t be so severe in Brazil, for example, where you can overtake relatively easily. But we saw that we were missing three to eight km/h on the straights.’
Meanwhile, Norris, who had labelled Verstappen’s driving in Mexico ‘dangerous’, said he hoped to have ‘good but fair battles’ with his rival moving forward.
The 24-year-old said: ‘I go into every race expecting a tough battle with Max. It’s clear that it doesn’t matter if he wins or second, his only job is to beat me in the race. And he’ll sacrifice himself to do that.
‘But I want to have good battles with him. I want to have those tough battles, like I’ve seen him have plenty of times. But fair ones.
‘It’s always going to be on the line. It’s always going to be tough with Max. He’s never going to make anyone’s life easy, especially mine at this point of the year.
‘But I think today was just… It was not fair, clean racing. And therefore, I think he got what he had coming to him.’