Max Verstappen wanted to start 2026 F1 British GP from pitlane due to potential danger, but Red Bull ruled it out, as they are hit with a different problem on rear wing.
It didn’t take long to see Red Bull’s Verstappen suffer another high-speed crash due to a potential rear wing failure. He had one in F1 Austrian GP qualifying in the final corner, and he faced another during British GP – much to his disappointment and anger on the radio.
Second consecutive rear wing failure for Red Bull
The Austria crash was related to rear wing active aerodynamics failure, which resulted in loss of downforce and caused him to snap when entering the right-hander. The incident in Silverstone, even though happened due to a different failure, but is related to the new rear wing.
His rear wing failed to fully close at Stowe as he went straight into the gravel to retire, while fighting Lewis Hamilton for the last podium place. Red Bull is trying its own version of Ferrari-style ‘macarena’ wing, which it introduced in Miami and fine-tuned it further in Monaco.
Different to Austria but same outcome, says Verstappen
But it looks like, the wing is inconsistent and the Red Bull drivers face a lot of snaps at odd times. Clearly, Verstappen was not too pleased with the back-to-back incidents, even terming it as dangerous. “Yeah, like Austria but a different fault, let’s say like that, but the same outcome,” he said in the print media pen after F1 British GP.
“Again, while turning into the corner, the rear wing is not fully attaching, you lose a lot of downforce with that. [Then you] spin off the track. 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 [to burst out on radio],” summed up Verstappen.
Verstappen wanted pitlane start in British GP, Red Bull didn’t
The Dutchman, in fact, revealed that he wanted to start from the pitlane after changing the wing and set-up, but the team opted to stick with it. Pre-race, he was asked about it and he showed his displeasure even then, asking the journalist to check with the team.
Post-race, he stuck to his guns. “I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I wanted to start from the pitlane. They (the team) were maybe confident to fix it, which I was not.” Red Bull team principal acknowledged the same from Verstappen. However, they still maintained their position.
Mekies know he wouldn’t be happy with the set-up, but starting from pitlane wouldn’t have helped their case with better results. They opted to maintain track position over changes to try and charge back into the Top 5 or push for a podium position.
Track position was more important for Red Bull
“Yeah, of course,” Mekies started, in his print media session after F1 British GP. “So, after qualifying, it was clear we were not very happy with the balance of the car, to say the least. And changing the set-up of the car would simply mean starting from the pitlane.
“And whilst we knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant to go with a very unperfect balance into the race, we still felt that it would give us better results than starting from the pitlane, with perhaps something better. Now, it’s something we have discussed with Max.
“And, I completely accept that he may have a different feeling, and he’s driving the car, so that’s what it is. But, at the end of the day, there were important learnings. To his point, the car probably felt similar to what he had on Saturday, so we hit the limitations that we knew we had yesterday.
“I’m not completely sure that we could have been P3 on the road, before the failure happened, if we had started from the pitlane,” summed up Mekies. A podium finish is always welcome, but Verstappen thought it was not deserved at all, had he managed to finish the race.
Didn’t deserve the British GP podium, feels Verstappen
He is trying his best with what he has at the moment. “I was lucky, of course, with everything that happened around me, with the penalty for Lewis, a slow puncture for George and Kimi’s problem,” said Verstappen. “Even if we would have finished on the podium, I mean, you take it, but it’s not deserved at all, because on the hard tyres we were really slow.
“I don’t know how I kept George and Lewis behind for so long. The whole weekend I had a terrible balance. No top speed compared to the other car as well in the garage. The race was exactly the same, which I already predicted. I’m trying my best. That’s the only thing that can happen.”
Medium tyre felt better than hard in British GP
Stressing on the hard compound, Verstappen feels he lost pace on the white side-walled tyres. He reckoned his pace on the medium was better when he was able to defend from George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Also, the close call with the Mercedes driver felt fine to him.
“I think on the medium, the first stint we were not too bad,” said Verstappen. “I had Lewis in front of George as well, it wasn’t too bad at that point. But then the team called me as soon as I did the move on George. But then as soon as I was on the hard tyres, I knew he didn’t feel good.
“So, I knew it was going to be a long one. But I think anyway we wouldn’t have gone to the end of it. [With George] it was probably close, right, with the white line? I don’t know if that’s on or off, but it was just racing. It wasn’t too bad,” summed up Verstappen.
Verstappen is not at all optimistic as of now
Usually, the Dutchman feels optimistic about his chances, but after British GP, he admitted of not feeling that. He knows everyone in the team is trying, even Mekies, who changed Red Bull’s fortune at the back end of F1 2025 season, but with updates from the rivals, it is not a good moment to be in.
On top of that, Verstappen is unable to finish races as well, which is difficult to digest. “I mean, it would be a very zen person to be optimistic at the moment with what’s happening this weekend,” he said. “I’m sorry, but it’s just like that. I might need a few days to reset and try again.
“I mean, everyone is trying their best. I’m not blaming one person (team principal Mekies) or whatever. It’s just painful for everyone that this is happening. I would like to just finish races first of all. That would be nice. At the moment, too many things were wrong. It’s as simple as that.
Reveals about chat with Mekies
“Not even speaking about pace,” summed up Verstappen, who added about Mekies coming into his room, after meeting with Jos Verstappen and manager Raymond Vermeulen. “He came straight into my room to discuss the problems that we had in the race to let me know what happened out there.
“But that’s normal. We always do that. [Like I said] We always do that, good or bad,” noted Verstappen. After a better show in Austria with the updates, it felt like a step back for the team in F1 British GP, but the Dutchman reckons it is down to the updates the teams bring at every event.
Pecking order changes with updates at every race
Anyone who brings one, gets ahead in the pecking order, which is what happened in F1 British GP. “Yeah, but everyone keeps bringing upgrades,” said Verstappen. “I mean, Ferrari had a big performance upgrade here, with I think power related mainly.
“So yeah, it just shifts all the time with whoever brings an upgrade. Because I guess most of the upgrades that are brought all the time is two, three tenths, which is quite big.” In addition to the chassis, the Dutchman also highlighted top speed lack on the power unit side in F1 British GP.
“Well, what happened, I mean, it was of course not race ending [due to the] the engine,” he said. “But of course, I was again down on top speed, which of course is a question mark. I don’t know why that is. But it’s again another thing that we have to work on.”
Verstappen in no mood to talk about future
But Verstappen was in no mood to entertain questions on his F1 or Red Bull future. “Well, I’m not going to say anything about that,” he said. “It’s not fair to say anything about that also right now.” On the team side, Mekies fully understood the feelings of the Dutchman being unpleasant.
Mekies understands why Verstappen is upset
He says the team is taking it serious whatever is happening with him. “Look, he’s right not to be happy,” said Mekies. “It is very unpleasant for drivers to be let down by the car in high-speed corners in two consecutive races, let it be for two different reasons.
“And it is, in a much lower scale, also extremely unpleasant for us as a group to send our drivers to the gravel trap. So, he’s right to be unhappy. I have no doubt that, as a team, that we’ll put in place what is necessary for that not to happen again, even if we fail to do that today.
“And we take that as seriously as one can do, and therefore the minimum that Max can achieve today is being unhappy.” When asked about the issue, Mekies noted that Red Bull knows what happened at Red Bull Ring with the rear wing failure. The early analysis showed different failure in F1 British GP.
Problem of Austria known, early analysis on Silverstone known
He accepts that this shouldn’t be happening at this level. “So, we certainly understand what happened at the Red Bull Ring,” continued Mekies. “We are not going to go into the details, because I don’t think it would be right. We understand the failure, yes.
“And yes, from the early analysis of today, we have suffered a different type of failure. It doesn’t make it better. But it is clear that in front of the successions of events, whether or not the failure is different doesn’t really matter.
“We are going to review the full area to make sure we leave zero chance for that domain. So we can certainly see from the data the fact that the wing didn’t close properly.
“And this is why we were able to tell you guys what happened before the back came back. So that’s what we can see today. The car is just back now and we are only able to say that it’s a different type of issue compared to last week. But again, as I said, it doesn’t make it better,” summed up Mekies.
Too early to judge the rear wing concept as per Mekies
When questioned if the concept fundamentally has a problem, the Frenchman says it is too early to disregard the whole concept. He feels they have raced it only in handful of races since Miami. “The answer is that we will do whatever is necessary to be on the safe side,” he said.
“We have raced quite a few races with that concept now. We have races since Miami, I think. So, it’s been a number of races. So, it’s too early in the analysis to establish whether it’s an issue with the concept or something else. But we are going for sure to leave no stone unturned when it comes to it, and we have all the options on board,” summed up Mekies.
