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Red Bull is not expecting to take a penalty for Sunday's Mexico Grand Prix following Max Verstappen's power shutdown during free practice two. The Dutchman's power unit suffered a complete failure when it suddenly turned off towards the end of the afternoon session.
Verstappen was the pace-setter in both Friday practice sessions, with both Ferraris and Mercedes well over a second behind. Verstappen's closest competitor appears to be teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who shadowed the 20-year-old in both sessions.
But Verstappen is not worried about a potential penalty coming his way: "At the moment we are not worried, we think it was a hydraulic failure," he said. "I don't know what it is exactly, as the car is still over there [on the other side of the track]."
Red Bull team boss confirmed that the issue was hydraulic related. Verstappen took on a new penalty in Russia and has an engine available to fit in penalty-free should it come to that.
"It's a hydraulic issue of some sort, so we need to get the car back to find out what's caused it and if it is an engine change then he has still got one in his pool and he should be alright," Horner said. "But first we need to get the car back to understand it."
Speaking about why Red Bull has such an advantage over its rivals, Horner said: "I think what's happened here is this high altitude tends to even things out a bit and the engines, the brakes etc. are struggling for air, everything is struggling for air mass.
"We are running the same wing as Monaco here and we have the same downforce as Monza. I think we are able to run the car in its optimum state and we have a power unit that looks competitive relative to the others."
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C. Sainz jr
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