Verstappen set to race with his Silverstone crash power unit

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen is set to use his power unit that powered his car during his 51G impact at Silverstone after Honda did not find any serious damage on Friday.

There had been concerns ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that championship leader Verstappen could lose his second power unit after the huge impact he suffered due to the contact with Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Honda sent the unit back to Sakura, its Japanese factory where it carried out a thorough analysis on it to decide whether it could be used in the remainder of the season.

The Japanese engine-maker changed a few components in the power unit without breaking the FIA seal, and intended to push the unit during Friday’s practice sessions at the Hungaroring. After carrying out test runs with the power unit during the Budapest practices, Honda has given the all-clear to the engine.

Honda’s F1 boss Toyoharu Tanabe commented: “It was good to see that Max is not suffering any ill effects from the Silverstone crash and we were able to check that the PU that he used in the British GP weekend is working as normal.

“However, generally, there is still a lot of room for improvement and that’s what we will be working on now. Qualifying has been very close at most circuits this year and, as is always the case on a short track like the Hungaroring, the lap times will be even closer than usual, so we can expect a very tight battle for qualifying tomorrow,” Tanabe was quoted as saying by Formula1.com.