Verstappen reverts to old rear wing after successive crashes

Reuters
By Reuters July 17, 2026 08:01 (EAT)
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Verstappen reverts to old rear wing after successive crashes

Formula One F1 - Belgian Grand Prix - Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium - July 16, 2026 Red Bull's Max Verstappen during the press conference ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

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Red Bull have reverted to a conventional rear wing for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after four-time world champion Max Verstappen suffered ​successive high-speed crashes in Austria and Britain.

The Dutch driver slammed the behaviour ‌of his car's wing at Silverstone as "super-dangerous" after he crashed out while chasing third place.

"We’ll go back to the old one and then see whenever the latest, or new one, is ready again ​to be used for us," he said at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday.

Ferrari, and ​then Red Bull, have caught eyes with a novel 'Macarena' rear wing ⁠that features a top flap rotating through 180 degrees in straight-line mode for ​more speed.

McLaren have also been experimenting with something similar.

Verstappen's team boss Laurent Mekies told ​the BBC that Red Bull had found a problem with the wing in tests after Silverstone.

The 28-year-old driver said after this month's British Grand Prix, the race before Spa, that "while turning into ​the corner, the rear wing is not fully attaching, and you lose a lot ​of downforce for that. You just spin off the track.”

"At this point, it’s super dangerous because ‌I ⁠could have really hurt myself two times. I was lucky in Austria; I was lucky here. But that’s why you get really fed up with it.”

Verstappen's French teammate Isack Hadjar, who did not experience the same problems, said he hoped the ditched ​wing could return ​soon.

"I guess I ⁠got lucky for two rounds in a row," he said. "It could have happened to none of us and it could have ​happened four times to the both of us."

Spa is a favourite ​track and ⁠almost a home race for Belgian-born Verstappen, who has won there three times.

Asked about his prospects this time, with Red Bull fourth in the standings, the driver left ⁠it open.

"Let’s ​see tomorrow, to be honest. I don’t know ​how we are going to perform. It’s as simple as that," he said.

"It’s better not to think about ​it too much and just go out."

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