Red Bull vows to leave 'no stone unturned' after Verstappen's second rear wing failure in a row

Max Verstappen crashed at Silverstone due to a rear wing failure on his Red Bull, the second successive race weekend the four-time world champion has been taken out by a problem with the same component. Team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed on Sunday evening that a full investigation is underway, with every option — including abandoning the rotating rear wing for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps — still being considered.

Verstappen was quick to clarify that the two failures were not the same issue. “A different fault, let’s say, but the same outcome,” he said. The previous incident came in Spielberg at the end of Q3, where Red Bull said it had identified and understood the cause. The recurrence of a separate problem at the very next round makes the situation considerably more alarming for the team.

At the centre of the concern is Red Bull’s version of the so-called ‘Macarena wing’, an active aerodynamic rear wing system the team introduced in Miami. Red Bull began developing the concept in November 2025 and originally planned to debut it in Melbourne, but delayed the launch after the team was not satisfied with its readiness. The design rotates up to 160 degrees in one direction — the opposite direction to Ferrari’s version, which can rotate up to 270 degrees — and produces the largest opening of any rear wing on the grid, making it particularly effective at reducing drag.

Despite its aerodynamic benefits, the wing has now been directly linked to two crashes. Verstappen described the incidents as “super dangerous”, a characterisation that carries extra weight with the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps circuit next on the calendar.

“We are going to review the full area to make sure we leave zero chance for that to happen again,” Mekies said. “We will do whatever is necessary to be on the safe side.”

The FIA has been involved in the design process from the outset, and safety considerations will govern whether the wing appears at Spa at all. Red Bull still believes in the concept and has raced it across several rounds, but the team acknowledges it cannot afford a third failure — particularly given Verstappen’s reported dissatisfaction behind the scenes.

Whether the rotating rear wing lines up in Belgium will depend entirely on what Red Bull’s engineers find during their investigation in the days ahead.