Red Bull confirm significant damage to Max Verstappen’s RB20 in Mexico City. Red Bull reveals significant damage to Max Verstappen's RB20 in FP 1 for Mexico City Grand Prix.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has shared that Max Verstappen’s car sustained major damage in the early moments of first practice for the 2024 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix, which was held earlier today at the 4.304-kilometre Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

Max Verstappen’s new floor was damaged within minutes of the session’s start at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, prompting the Milton Keynes team to rush into repairs. This setback cost the reigning champion valuable track time, making the session more challenging from the outset.

Despite these issues, the 27-year-old finished with the fourth-fastest time but was unable to complete the final minutes. Late in the session, Max Verstappen reported a loss of engine power and brought his RB20 back to the garage, where the team began inspecting the car’s rear.

The power unit issue remains unresolved, and Verstappen’s new floor is heavily damaged, as confirmed by Helmut Marko: “The floor is massively damaged,” Marko told Sky DE. “We have to replace that one. Fortunately, we still have a spare floor. And as for the engine, we don’t yet know exactly where the cause is. But two such damages in one session is obviously a lot. And of course, we couldn’t perform the short runs as planned and had to abort the long runs, the next practice is more or less a tyre session for Pirelli. So we have to see how we can somehow make up for the deficit we have accumulated.” – the Red Bull boss revealed at the end of FP1 in Mexico.