Max Verstappen's race at Silverstone ended in the gravel due to a recurring rear-wing problem. This issue has left the Red Bull driver frustrated and concerned about his safety on the track.
Max Verstappen has expressed his frustration over a recurring rear-wing problem with his Red Bull car after crashing out of the British Grand Prix. With only four laps remaining, Verstappen was in contention for a podium finish when his car spun off the track, landing in the gravel at Stowe. The incident brought out a Safety Car and led to Charles Leclerc taking the win as the race concluded under neutralized conditions.
The Dutch driver, who has four World Championships under his belt, linked the crash to the same rear-wing issue that troubled him during qualifying in Austria just a week earlier. "When the rear wing doesn’t close fully, you lose a lot of downforce and you spin off the track," Verstappen explained. "One time, okay, but two times… this is becoming dangerous for myself. And obviously, I don’t want that."
Reflecting on his weekend, Verstappen seemed at a loss for solutions. "I don’t know," he admitted. "It’s just painful, frustrating. You know, you’re trying everything you can. The whole weekend I wasn’t happy with the car balance. I’m down on top speed on my side of the garage."
Across the Red Bull garage, Isack Hadjar also had a challenging race. Despite starting and finishing in fifth, Hadjar was unable to make significant progress through the field. "Very good pace the first few laps," he commented. "I was right within Max’s overtake mode and, I don’t know, it just felt nice. Then we had a huge drop-off. Even on new tyres, on the new hard after the pit stop, I don’t know… just not much pace."
Hadjar experienced a turnaround after a front wing change, regaining some lap time, though it was too late to salvage his race. "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."
Reflecting on the car’s performance, Hadjar found some solace in understanding the new package. "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. 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."
As Red Bull looks to address these challenges, Verstappen and Hadjar will have their eyes set on the next race, hoping for fewer mechanical gremlins and more competitive results.