Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been given fresh engine parts for the Hungarian Grand Prix after a disastrous qualifying session on Saturday.
They will start the race in Budapest 10th and 11th respectively. Verstappen suffered power unit issues in Q3 meaning he could not set a representative time, while Perez suffered from a dodgy track limits call from the stewards before being blocked by Kevin Magnussen on his final Q2 run.
In their absence, George Russell produced an excellent lap to secure pole position for the first time in his career. He starts ahead of the two Ferraris, who have a chance to reel in their Red Bull rivals and take advantage of their qualifying despair.
To give their drivers the best chance of moving back up through the pack, Red Bull have given them both fresh engine parts. Verstappen and Perez will both benefit from their third internal combustion engines of the year, while also having new MGU-H, MGU-K and turbochargers fitted.
All of those components are within their yearly allowance, and the parts changes were authorised and carried out with the permission of the FIA technical delegate. It means they did not flout Parc Ferme rules and will receive no penalty for having the new parts fitted.
It does, however, move them both closer to a grid penalty later down the line as they are now on their final permitted power units of the season. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko confirmed earlier this week that grid penalties are likely later down the line, and could be taken in the first races back after the summer break in Belgium and Italy.
The same cannot be said for Pierre Gasly, however, who also has new parts on his car. AlphaTauri engineers worked overnight to install a new engine, MGU-H, MGU-K, turbocharger, energy store and control electronics.
They also hope it will give Gasly a good chance of a strong performance after a poor qualifying in which he could only go 19th fastest. But he will start the race from the pit lane, as his changes were not given approval by the technical delegate beforehand.
