Max Verstappen says Red Bull will discuss with the FIA why its rivals will be given extra opportunities to develop their power unit.

The FIA announced the outcome of its first examination of the team’s power units under its new Additional Development Upgrade Opportunities regulations. These permit teams whose combustion engines are not the most powerful to introduce more performance enhancements if they are far enough behind the leading design.

Despite Mercedes’ domination of the season so far the FIA deemed Red Bull-Ford’s power unit – the first it has produced – has the strongest combustion engine. Mercedes will receive additional upgrade opportunities for this year and next. Ferrari, whose engine was deemed even further behind, will receive more.

Verstappen said his team “were all a bit surprised” by the FIA’s decision. “Yes, I think we can be proud of the job that we have done, but we never felt like we were the best, so that’s why we were surprised,” he told Sky.

“That’s what I think we’re discussing with the FIA to understand what happened there. But let’s see what comes out of it.”

Asked whether he hoped it would lead to a change in the FIA’s decision, Verstappen said: “I don’t know, I think it’s worth the discussion.”

However Mercedes driver George Russell said the performance of Red Bull-Ford’s combustion engine had been clear since pre-season testing.

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“I wasn’t surprised because it was all agreed with the manufacturers, the ADUO is based on the combustion side of the power unit and we knew from the beginning, from Barcelona, Red Bull seemingly had a really strong combustion engine,” he said.

“I think the performances we’ve shown recently as a team have just shown how strong our chassis is as well,” he said. “There’s been so much talk around our engine, et cetera, and the engine is great, but the chassis is incredible.”

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine