Red Bull makes key rear wing decision after high-speed Max Verstappen crashes
Red Bull has taken action after recent rear wing failures that led to Max Verstappen crashing.
A pair of high-speed crashes for Max Verstappen have prompted Red Bull to revert to a conventional rear wing design for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Verstappen spun off into the gravel at Stowe when running third late in the British Grand Prix after suffering a problem with his rear wing. The incident came a week after another failure caused him to crash out of qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Red Bull has subsequently taken the decision to drop its so-called ‘Macarena’ rotating rear wing design in Belgium, team principal Laurent Mekies has confirmed to BBC Sport.
The decision comes after evaluations carried out following the British Grand Prix uncovered a problem with the design of Red Bull’s rear wing. These tests were conducted during a filming day at Silverstone last week.
Red Bull’s innovation has taken inspiration from the eye-catching design originally introduced by Ferrari.
When straight-line mode is activated, the top flap of the rear wing rotates more than 180 degrees to reduce drag and provide a straight-line speed boost.
But while Ferrari has suffered no major incidents as a result of its solution, Red Bull has experienced problems on back-to-back weekends.
This prompted F1’s governing body the FIA to hold discussions with both Red Bull and Ferrari over the designs on the grounds of safety.
After his incident at Silverstone, Verstappen described Red Bull’s car as “super dangerous”.
“At that point it's super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, two times! I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here, but that's why you get really fed up with it,” he told Sky Sports F1.
Mekies insisted Red Bull would be leaving no stone unturned to fix the issue.
“He's [Verstappen] right to be unhappy.” Mekies said. “I have no doubt that, as a team, we will put in place what is necessary for that not to happen again, even if we failed to do that today.
“It is very unpleasant for drivers to be let down by the car in high-speed corners in two consecutive races.”
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