Max Verstappen has strongly criticized Red Bull Racing after a rear wing failure caused him to crash out of the British Grand Prix on Sunday, July 5, 2026.
The Dutch driver retired from third place on lap 48 at Stowe corner, marking the second consecutive race where an aerodynamic issue cost him a podium finish.
Verstappen expressed severe frustration over the team radio, comparing the incident to the previous race in Austria.
"It is just like Austria: a different defect with the same outcome," he said.
The malfunction affected the car's downforce during high-speed cornering.
"When entering the corner, the rear wing does not generate full pressure, causing you to lose an incredible amount of downforce, and as a result, you spin off the track," Verstappen explained.
He emphasized the physical risks involved.
"At such a moment it is simply super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, even twice, as I was lucky in Austria and I was lucky here again, but that is the reason why at a certain point you get completely sick of it," he added.
Verstappen called for immediate corrective measures. "This is simply something the team has to solve, right?
It is out of my hands, and while I love Spa, Spa is going to be another painful weekend purely because of this situation," he noted.
The driver also revealed a pre-race disagreement with the team over his engine setup.
He wanted to start from the pit lane due to concerns about engine deployment issues, but the team decided against it.
Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged Verstappen's anger and confirmed the team is investigating the failures.
"Look, he is right to be unhappy, as it is very unpleasant for drivers to be let down by the car in fast corners in two consecutive races, albeit for two different reasons," Mekies said.
Mekies stated that the team takes full responsibility for the safety risks.
"It is also extremely unpleasant for us as a group to send our drivers into the gravel trap on a much smaller scale, so he is right to be dissatisfied, and I have no doubt that as a team we will implement what is necessary to ensure this does not happen again," he explained.
Initial analysis indicates a failure distinct from the issue at the Red Bull Ring.
"We certainly understand what happened at the Red Bull Ring, and while I won't go into details because I don't think that would be right, we understand that defect," Mekies said.
Mekies defended the team's engineering choices but remained open to changes.
The team introduced a rotating upper rear wing element during the Miami Grand Prix, similar to a Ferrari concept, to optimize aerodynamic drag reduction.
"We have run quite a few races with that concept now, and it is too early in the analysis to determine if it is a problem with the concept or something else, but we will certainly leave no stone unturned when it comes to that and we keep all options open," he stated.
Regarding the pre-race strategy dispute, Mekies explained that changing the car's setup would have required a pit lane start.
Management believed maintaining the third-place grid position offered a better competitive advantage.
"And although we knew it wouldn't be pleasant to go into the race with a very imperfect balance, we still felt it would yield better results than starting from the pit lane with perhaps something slightly better," Mekies said.
