Red Bull pair take new power unit elements for 70th Anniversary GP weekend

Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon will run new power unit elements for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix weekend, with Honda confirming that they were making the changes to give them “greater flexibility in terms of PU management”.

Verstappen receives a full change of power unit elements, while Albon, unlike Verstappen, won’t take a new control electronics or energy store. All of the changes are within the team’s allowance, however, meaning that there’ll be no penalties for Verstappen or Albon.

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Meanwhile, Honda also confirmed that the same changes wouldn’t be made to the AlphaTauri cars of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly, citing Gasly having had to take a new power unit in Hungary, and adding that they wanted to evaluate Kvyat’s power unit after his big crash at Silverstone last weekend.

“As part of our PU strategy for the season, we are introducing new PUs for the two Red Bull Racing drivers at this event,” Honda said on social media. “This gives us greater flexibility in terms of PU management. The new PUs are the same specification as the ones coming out.

“For the time being, we are not making the change at Scuderia AlphaTauri. This is because Gasly has already used a second PU from Sunday in Hungary and with Kvyat, we want to evaluate his PU following his crash last weekend.”

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Daniel Ricciardo also takes a new internal combustion engine, MGU-H and turbocharger for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, the two Racing Points of Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll and the two Williams of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi will take on new MGU-Ks – all of the above again within their allowances.