Max Verstappen expressed his outrage after his retirement from the British Grand Prix, where he lost control of his Red Bull car in the last part of the race. With only six laps remaining, Verstappen was battling for third place but had to retire due to a design fault in the car’s rear wing.
During the race, the Dutch driver faced issues in managing the vehicle, including poor balance, difficulties with the electric battery, and transmission-related problems. Following the incident, Verstappen did not hide his frustration, both regarding the wing failure and the fact that the engine had not been changed, despite having alerted the team about the issues detected during qualifying.
The head of Red Bull, Laurent Mekies, defended the design of the rear wing, which has been a subject of debate since the crash during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix. Mekies agreed that it is frustrating to see drivers having to retire to the gravel due to car problems in two consecutive races, although the reasons were different.
Since the introduction of active aerodynamic technology, where the car’s wings can be adjusted to reduce drag, doubts have arisen about the safety and stability of vehicles. Despite offering performance advantages, the complexity of the design can lead to moments of instability that are particularly concerning at high speeds.
Verstappen commented that pushing until the last moment in the race was “extremely dangerous” and expressed that he was lucky not to have been injured in Austria as well as at the British GP. He insisted that they should have proactively changed the engine, although this would have meant starting from the pit lane.
Mekies, on the other hand, explained that starting from the pit lane was not a viable option if they wanted to fight for a good result, as the axle configuration was not optimal before the race. He admitted that Verstappen’s feelings were justifiable but defended the decision to keep the vehicle as it was to try to optimize the results.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI