Red Bull's chief engineer says he is "not surprised" a team elected to "roll a hand grenade" into its decision to hand Max Verstappen a fresh power unit in Brazil.
After being eliminated in Q1 in Sao Paulo, Red Bull opted to fit an entirely fresh power unit for the Dutchman, normally a trouble-free process beyond the resulting penalty.
However, McLaren inquired with the FIA to see if Red Bull's fresh engine would be covered under the F1 cost cap.
The reason for this clarification is that the regulations do not provide a firm answer as to whether a new engine taken for pure performance reasons would count under the cost cap, with teams operating under guidance from the FIA.
It is understood that Red Bull could use the engine Verstappen used in qualifying at Interlagos again if it was required to do so, but that it was changed upon advice from Honda.
Reflecting on the situation, chief engineer Paul Monaghan detailed why the team believes it is in the right and has not committed any offence.
"I'm not surprised someone has sort of rolled a hand grenade into the situation," Monaghan told media, including RacingNews365.
"Fine. If the situation were the other way around, we could do the same.
"What we did is defensible, it's legitimate, and if you go back through, even this generation of cars from say 2022 to this year, people have made engine changes. There's nothing unusual in it.
"I personally don't think it is a grey area. We justified, as far as I'm concerned, to ourselves what we were going to do, and if we're questioned on it, fine. We will justify it."
When pressed on whether the engine change fell within the cost cap, Monaghan did not give an answer.
"I'm not going to answer that question, because I am not a finance regulation expert," he said.
"I know roughly what we need to do, and what is in and what is out, but I believe we can defend our actions, and there will not be a penalty against us at the end of the year.
"That would be an answer with my knowledge on it. I don't want to speculate as to how we're treating it within the financial regulations, because I may get it wrong, and then I look even more of an idiot than normal. So I'll leave it at that, if I may."
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