Red Bull once again removes a seal to inspect Verstappen’s gearbox
After his retirement in the middle of Free Practice 1, Max Verstappen changed his gearbox to reuse a previous version in Free Practice 2. Red Bull inspected this gearbox again this morning.
The FIA warned that Red Bull had removed a new seal placed on Max Verstappen’s gearbox. The regulations allow teams to inspect gearboxes and change certain components if they deem it necessary.
If the entire gearbox is changed, it is deducted from the season’s quota and can lead to a 5-place grid penalty. This is not the case here, as no new gearbox has currently been fitted by Red Bull to Max Verstappen’s car.
Before arriving in the Netherlands, Verstappen was already on his 4th used gearbox and his 5th transmission out of the 4 allowed (gearbox and transmission) per season. He had already been penalized last week at the Belgian Grand Prix, starting in 14th position.
It is therefore possible that another gearbox may be used in qualifying and in the race, among the gearboxes that have already been used and are in good condition, in order to avoid running with the one from yesterday, which seems to be experiencing some issues.
