Verstappen Says Red Bull's Rear Wing Is Dangerous After Podium Opportunity Vanished At Silverstone

Max Verstappen launched sharp criticism towards Red Bull Racing following his retirement (DNF) at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix held at Silverstone Circuit, Sunday 5 July 2026 local time. The four-time world champion stated that the rear wing failure on his car did not only destroy his podium chances, but also put driver safety at serious risk.

Verstappen had been running competitively and fighting for a top three position. However, with four laps remaining in the race, his RB22 car lost control through the high-speed Stowe corner after the rear wing failed to fully close back into position following DRS deployment. This caused the car to suddenly lose downforce, slide off the track, and end his race in the gravel trap.

"When the rear wing wouldn't close properly, I lost balance and went off track. Look, one time might still be understandable, but twice? This is extremely dangerous for me. Frankly I never want something like this to happen again," Verstappen was quoted as saying by Formula 1 on Monday, 6 July 2026.

The Dutch driver revealed that the Silverstone incident marked the second consecutive race weekend where he suffered an unexpected loss of car control. According to Verstappen, while the technical root causes differed for both incidents, both situations carried equally high safety risks for drivers.

"I could have been injured on both occasions. I got lucky in Austria, and I got lucky again here. At this point, this situation is genuinely very dangerous," he added.

Prior to this incident, Red Bull had replaced the front wing on Verstappen's car. This adjustment improved the car's performance and lap times, bringing his podium hopes back within reach.

"After we changed the front wing and I got back out on track, we found a lot of lap time. I was feeling good again, but at the same time I knew we'd already thrown away the whole race having lost four or five laps and so many positions. That was incredibly frustrating," Verstappen stated.

Despite running up front for periods during the grand prix, Verstappen acknowledged that Red Bull's overall performance across the weekend had not been strong enough to challenge for victory regardless. This Silverstone DNF also broke his positive momentum after taking second place at the Austrian Grand Prix, as well as costing him critical points in this season's world championship title fight.

Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged his driver's frustration. He accepted that Verstappen had every right to be angry, having suffered loss of control at high speed corners over two back-to-back race weekends. Mekies confirmed that Red Bull will conduct a full investigation to identify the root cause of the issue and prevent similar incidents from occurring again.

"Max has every right to be unhappy. It is unacceptable when a driver is let down by their car at high speed corners. We will investigate this thoroughly and ensure nothing like this happens again," Mekies stated.