Verstappen crashes out at Stowe as faulty rear wing strikes twice in three races

Max Verstappen crashed out of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday after his Red Bull’s rear wing failed to close completely through the high-speed Stowe corner, a fault the four-time world champion says also caused his retirement in Austria. The incident ended what had already been a deeply troubled weekend for the Dutchman, who had been dealing with power unit and balance issues from the outset.

Verstappen was blunt in his assessment of the situation. “It was like Austria,” he told media after the race. “A different fault, let’s say, but the same outcome. So again, while turning into the corner, the rear wing is not fully attaching. And you lose a lot of downforce because of that. You just spin off the track.”

The crash came despite Verstappen appearing to be on course for his third podium of the season, a result he acknowledged would have been fortunate given the car’s underlying pace. “We were lucky, of course, with everything that happened around me — with the penalty for Lewis, a slow puncture for George, Kimi’s problem,” he said. “Even if we would have finished on the podium, I mean, you take it, but it’s not deserved at all. Because on the hard tyres we were really slow.”

Verstappen had urged Red Bull after qualifying to replace the power unit and make significant set-up changes, even suggesting he would have preferred to start from the pitlane rather than seventh on the grid. The team made neither change. Asked by Dutch broadcaster Viaplay why he had started from seventh, Verstappen replied simply: “You have to ask the team. I would much rather have started from the pitlane because the race was exactly the same. I told them: ‘We’ll just see the same thing again in the race.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

The rear wing fault has drawn a stark response from Verstappen, who described the recurring failure as dangerous. “At that point it’s super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, two times,” he said, referencing both the Austrian and British incidents.

Verstappen also confirmed he has little interest in engaging in talks with Red Bull’s senior management ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, deepening the sense of tension between the champion and the team that has delivered all four of his world titles.