Button absent from qualifying, Verstappen penalized again
At the end of FP3 in Montreal, two pieces of bad news emerged, one for Jenson Button who will not be able to take part in the qualifying session, and the other for Max Verstappen who had to change his power unit and is penalized as a result.
Following his issue during Free Practice 3, Jenson Button will not participate in the qualifying session. Indeed, the McLaren-Honda suffered an ERS problem during practice, and it is not expected to be resolved in time for the Briton to be on track.
Button will therefore miss the qualifying session, as McLaren announced on Twitter, and he may need to change the engine for tomorrow’s race.
Another driver experiencing misfortune before qualifying is Max Verstappen. The Dutchman will indeed have to change the Renault power unit of his Toro Rosso, resulting in a 10-place grid penalty as a consequence.
This 10-place penalty, in addition to the 5-place penalty received following his contact with Romain Grosjean during the Monaco GP, means Verstappen will incur a 15-place penalty at the end of the qualifying session, which will undoubtedly make him start from the back of the grid tomorrow, Sunday, for the race.
