Red Bull reveal significant Verstappen damage

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has revealed that Max Verstappen's car sustained significant damage during first practice, ahead of this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix. 

Verstappen suffered damage to his new floor in the opening minutes of the session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, resulting in a quick repair by the Milton Keynes-based team. 

This alone cost the reigning world champion valuable time, in what was the start of a challenging session. 

Whilst the 27-year-old ended the session with the fourth quickest time, he missed the final few minutes. 

In the closing minutes of first practice, Verstappen reported a loss of engine power and returned his RB20 immediately to the garage, where Red Bull began inspecting the rear of his car. 

The issue with Verstappen's power unit is still yet to be solved, whilst the Dutchman's new floor is significantly damaged, according to 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."