Honda give Verstappen’s engine the all-clear after Silverstone crash

2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

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The power unit which was fitted to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull during his high-speed crash at Silverstone has been given the all-clear by Honda after it was run in today’s practice session.

Honda was awaiting the outcome of today’s practice runs to judge whether the hardware was fit to use for future races. Drivers may only use a maximum of three complete power units for the 23-race season, and replacing the power unit would have left Verstappen at risk of future penalties.

Verstappen covered 45 laps of the Hungaroring using the power unit today. Honda’s technical director Toyoharu Tanabe said afterwards he was satisfied with their findings. “We were able to check that the PU that he used in the British GP weekend is working as normal,” he confirmed.

The Red Bull driver headed the first practice session but slipped to third place behind the Mercedes pair in the afternoon as temperatures climbed at the circuit. Verstappen said the team need to make gains with their car overnight but isn’t concerned by their position.

“It’s nothing too big to overcome,” said Verstappen. “It’s just in general not an easy day with track temperatures like this, so we’ll analyse everything.”

“Especially over one lap but also in the long runs [there’s] a lot of things to look into but no big struggles,” he added.

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2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Honda give Verstappen’s engine the all-clear after Silverstone crash”

  1. Well call me impressed, with that kind of impact if that engine can power a F1 car let alone a lawn mower, then I have my respect for the Japanese manufacturing quality.

    1. @illusive Yeah, considering we’ve seen replacement PU’s just because someone went into the barriers back end first at a relatively slow speed, I never even imagined Verstappens’ PU would be salvageable at 50g straight on, especially once the wreckage was pulled out and you could see what little was left.

  2. If you remember how the car looked after that crash its unbelievable.

  3. I suppose now that they saw the engine ok to set back the full power settings.

  4. So we are spared another whinge from Horner and a spicy retort from Wolff. Schade.

  5. Maybe Red Bull can dial back the 2 week whine now. I doubt it.

  6. PU during the weekend will probably act up and fail, and horner will go to stewards room for another investigation with new evidence pointing to PU, fill in the blanks…. now give him a penalty please! :)

  7. Mark in Florida
    31st July 2021, 0:49

    I don’t think it will make myself. That kind of impact usually damages the rotation assembly bearings. If it has some kind of unseen problem the heat in Hungary will cause it to show up catastrophically. I hope they are correct in their assessment though. If it survives the race kudos to them for building a thoroughly tough motor.

  8. The kind of forces that go on within an engine as a result of combustion far outweigh those of even a 51g crash. The danger would be in the peripheral parts and their mountings having been compromised by the impact. Seems that’s not the case, a small consolation for RB given the disparity of outcomes two weeks ago.

  9. Pity Honda are pulling out of F1, again!

Comments are closed.