Red Bull has robustly defended its decision to equip Max Verstappen with a new power unit ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix, pushing back against McLaren’s suggestion that the move may stretch Formula 1’s financial regulations.
Verstappen was sent to the pit lane for the start in Brazil after a shock Q1 elimination, allowing Red Bull to alter his car’s setup and install a fresh engine.
The choice sparked curiosity from McLaren, who argued that replacing a power unit for performance reasons could – and should – carry cost-cap implications.
McLaren Questions Cost Cap Implications
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella openly questioned the legality and financial treatment of the change after the race.
“To be honest, these kind of power unit changes, they challenge the regulations,” he said. “I will be interested in understanding if the cost of this engine now goes in the cost cap or not.
“If the engine was changed for performance reasons, it should go in the cost cap. So let’s see if this is the case, not that I will be able to see, as it’s all on the Red Bull side.
“But this is also one reason why we wouldn’t do it, because it would end up in the cost cap.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
The new engine could offer Verstappen a marginal performance lift in the crucial final three rounds, though the four-time champion still trails Lando Norris by 49 points and has acknowledged he will need luck to stay alive in the title fight.
Red Bull: ‘What we did is defendable’
Speaking in Las Vegas ahead of the weekend, Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan said he was neither surprised by McLaren’s scrutiny nor concerned by it.
“I’m not surprised someone has to sort of roll a hand grenade into the situation. Fine. If the situation were around the other way, we could do the same,” he said.
“What we did is defendable, it’s legitimate and if you go back through, even this generation of cars from say ‘22 to this year, people have made engine changes. There’s nothing unusual in it.”
Monaghan dismissed the notion that the decision sits in a regulatory grey zone.
“I don’t think it’s a grey area. As far as I’m concerned, we justified to ourselves what we were going to do. If we’re questioned on it, fine, we will justify it.”
When asked whether the new power unit affects Red Bull’s cost cap, Monaghan declined to give specifics.
"I'm not going to answer that question because I'm not a finance regulation expert. I know roughly what we need to do and what's in and what's out.
“But I believe our actions we can defend, and there will not be a penalty against us at the end of the year for it.
Read also: Verstappen wants Ricciardo’s race number for 2026 – but why?
“That would be an answer with my knowledge on it. I don't want to speculate as to how we're treating it within the financial regulations, because I may get it wrong and then I look even more of an idiot than normal. So I'll leave it at that, if I may.”
With both teams entrenched ahead of a tense season run-in, Red Bull’s stance suggests the debate is unlikely to rattle its championship push – even if the political temperature continues to rise.
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