Overview
- Red Bull fitted Max Verstappen with a fresh Honda power unit and chose a pit-lane start in São Paulo after his Q1 exit.
- McLaren asked the FIA to clarify whether performance-motivated engine swaps should count toward the financial regulations.
- Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan called the move defendable and declined to detail its accounting, saying he expects no penalty.
- The FIA acknowledged a rules gap and said it currently accepts teams’ reliability justifications for engine changes without deep investigation.
- Any ruling on Red Bull’s treatment is likely to come through year-end cost-cap reviews, with 2026 PU caps and defined reliability allowances, such as $1 million for an ICE, designed to deter strategic swaps.