Red Bull and Honda have been dealt a blow after confirming that both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have lost one of their power units apiece due to accident damage.
Verstappen, who has taken five grand prix victories this season, is locked in a close fight for the Drivers’ title with Lewis Hamilton, trailing his rival by eight points.
Similarly Red Bull is in a tight battle with Mercedes in a bid to end its opponent’s run of seven successive championships.
Verstappen’s power unit sustained sizeable damage in his high-speed crash at Silverstone following contact with Hamilton.
Honda attempted to retrieve the damaged components after sending the unit back to its base in Japan and ran the power unit in Verstappen’s car during practice in Hungary.
However further inspections brought concern for Honda and it moved Verstappen onto his third and final power unit of the season, ahead of schedule, with Verstappen’s second unit having only been installed into the RB16B in France.
Team-mate Perez then suffered damage at the start of the race in Hungary when his RB16B took a terminal hit from the out-of-control Valtteri Bottas.
Red Bull feared that Perez’s power unit had sustained terminal damage and Honda has now confirmed the development.
It means Perez is poised to move on to his third and final power unit at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
“We have lost one PU each and we have 23 races so we have to think our strategy accordingly,” Honda chief Toyoharu Tanabe-san said to Japanese media on Thursday.
It leaves both Verstappen and Perez facing a likely grid penalty at an upcoming grand prix, with drivers permitted only three power units per season, and up to 12 events still remaining in 2021.
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