Overview
- Red Bull reverted to an older underfloor and overhauled Max Verstappen’s setup after a dismal qualifying, triggering a pit-lane start under parc fermé rules.
- The team fitted a fifth power unit for Verstappen, avoiding a grid penalty by starting from the pits, which contributed marginal performance gains.
- A slow puncture on lap 7 coincided with a Virtual Safety Car, cutting time loss on the first stop and enabling an aggressive multi-stop strategy to P3.
- Team boss Laurent Mekies defended the late third stop, arguing a win was not sustainable on tyre wear and that the call secured the podium attack.
- McLaren’s Andrea Stella publicly questioned whether a performance-driven engine swap should count under the cost cap, elevating a regulatory issue as Lando Norris’s title lead grew to 49 points with three races left.