'This Is Becoming Dangerous' Max Verstappen Warns Red Bull Over Second Rear-Wing Failure At British Grand Prix

Max Verstappen crashed out of the British Grand Prix with just four laps remaining on Sunday, a high‑speed exit he explicitly blamed on a repeat rear‑wing failure, bluntly warning Red Bull that 'this is becoming dangerous'.

The Red Bull driver was running in third place and chasing a potential podium when his car spun into the gravel at Stowe corner, prompting a late Safety Car that helped secure Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc's victory as the race finished under neutralised conditions.

The same type of fault appeared only a week earlier, when an identical rear‑wing issue caused the Dutch driver to crash during qualifying in Austria. The rapid recurrence of a critical failure on the RB22 chassis has turned what might have been routine setbacks into a clear reliability concern for the defending champions.

Verstappen Questions Red Bull Reliability After Rear‑Wing Failure

The mechanics of Formula 1 mean a rear wing must close fully to maintain downforce through high‑speed corners. These aerodynamic devices are central to keeping cars stable at speed. When a wing stays open, the car loses rear grip and can quickly become uncontrollable. This is what Verstappen said he experienced as he approached one of the most demanding sections of the Silverstone circuit.

'When the rear wing doesn't close fully, you lose a lot of downforce and you spin off the track,' he said following the race. 'So, yeah. One time, okay, but two times, this is becoming dangerous for myself. And obviously, I don't want that.'

Verstappen described a weekend in which he never felt at ease with the RB22. He made clear that the issue went beyond one incident, pointing to an ongoing struggle to extract performance and a lack of trust in the car.

'I don't know,' he reflected, when asked about his next steps. 'I mean, yeah. It's just painful, frustrating. You know, you're trying everything you can. Yesterday, of course, I mean, the whole weekend I'm not happy with the car balance. I'm down on top speed on my side of the garage.'

Disheartened Champion Admits He Wants A Break From F1

Verstappen said the performance deficit had been obvious throughout the weekend and that he would have preferred to start from the pit lane rather than take the start with a car he did not fully trust.

'Same again today in the race,' he said. 'If it was up to me, I would have started from the pit lane, but yeah. At the moment, I'm honestly just looking forward to going home and not thinking about Formula 1.'

His comments underline how strongly he feels about the repeated failure and the general balance issues on his side of the garage. The coming days at Red Bull's Milton Keynes base are likely to focus heavily on understanding both the rear‑wing problem and the broader lack of confidence Verstappen described.

Team‑Mate Hadjar Echoes Concerns Over Pace And Set‑Up

The discontent was not limited to Verstappen's side of the Red Bull garage. Isack Hadjar finished in fifth place, the same position from which he started, yet the French driver said his race was held back by strategy choices and the car's shifting behaviour.

Hadjar reported a promising start to the afternoon, saying he had very good pace in the opening laps and that the car felt strong while running in maximum overtake engine mode. He said the car felt good initially, before a sudden drop in performance halted his progress.

'Then we had a huge drop‑off,' Hadjar explained. 'Even on new tyres, on the new hard after the pit stop, I don't know, just not much pace. I was really lacking load on the car.'

A later pit stop to adjust the front wing restored much of his speed and brought a clear improvement in lap times. However, the timing of the change left him frustrated at the points lost earlier in the race.

'Once we changed the front wing and I went out again, we gained a lot of lap time,' he added. 'So I was happy again, but at the same time I was like, okay, I just wasted my whole race, because four or five laps had gone by and I'd lost many positions. So, quite frustrating.'

Hadjar said he was encouraged by a better feel for Red Bull's updated aerodynamic package, an area he said had been difficult during the previous round.

'I think I got on top of what the car could do with the new package, which I couldn't really do at the Red Bull Ring,' he said. 'So I'm happy with that. Now we just need to understand what went wrong during that no-man's-land stint, and then maybe we can go and fight further ahead.'