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Red Bull has changed Sergio Perez’s chassis after a request from its under-pressure driver, while team-mate Max Verstappen will serve a grid penalty at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Verstappen will use a new internal combustion engine at Interlagos, which means a five-place grid drop because he has already exceeded his V6 allocation this season.
However, Red Bull and engine partner Honda believe the rest of Verstappen’s power unit can still be used, which saves a bigger penalty.
As Brazil is a sprint weekend the five-place grid penalty will be applied to the grand prix only, so where Verstappen qualifies for the sprint he will start.
As for Perez, his search for a solution to the problems that have apparently been holding him back in recent races has led to him asking for a different chassis.
Red Bull has obliged, as it has one from earlier in the season, and it can switch to it without incurring the significant cost of introducing a new one now.
“We've changed him back into a different chassis,” said Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan when asked by The Race if Perez had a new one this weekend.
“He asked if we can: yeah, fine, OK.
“The boys got a bit of work but they didn't mind so there we go.”
Perez has not felt confident on the brakes in the United States or in Mexico and struggled so much at his home grand prix he was eliminated in Q1.
He has suggested that a floor specification discrepancy between himself and Verstappen could be partly responsible, but Red Bull does not think the difference is significant.
Monaghan described it as a “hybrid” spec but said it is not unusual, or particularly big.
“Checo is on a different edge specification from Max,” he confirmed.
“If you look at the edge wing itself it's subtly different. It's a small difference.
“The magnitude is, I would argue, small enough that it's not going to cause him to have a significant difference to Max.
“We've done it like that purely and simply because it's the best way to service two cars and ensure that we can service them fairly with spares.”
Perez should be back on the same floor as Verstappen from the next race in Las Vegas.
