Loading
The FIA has opened discussions with Red Bull and Ferrari over their ‘Macarena’ revolving rear wing designs after Max Verstappen’s crash at the British Grand Prix raised fresh safety concerns.
Verstappen spun into the gravel at Stowe late in the Silverstone race after what Red Bull has described as a rear-wing problem. The incident followed another alarming moment in Austria, where an airflow reattachment issue pitched him off at the penultimate corner in qualifying.
Speaking after the British GP, Verstappen made clear why his radio anger was so intense. “Well, 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.”
Red Bull has already pledged a full investigation, with team principal Laurent Mekies saying it will do whatever is necessary to be safe for Belgium. The team could even revert to the more conventional rear wing it used at the start of the season if it cannot prove the current concept is fault-proof. For more context on Red Bull’s immediate response, read our earlier report on its full review after Verstappen’s Silverstone wing failure.
The FIA’s interest centres on the behaviour of the revolving upper flaps used by Red Bull and Ferrari. Their designs differ significantly from more conventional solutions because the flaps rotate much further, with Ferrari’s believed to move roughly 225 degrees clockwise when switching into straight mode.
The performance goal is clear: by effectively flipping upside down, the wing dramatically cuts drag and can even create a small amount of lift to reduce rolling resistance. Both designs had FIA approval before being raced, which means the teams will almost certainly have had to demonstrate that there were no initial safety risks.
The current talks are focused on whether the wings reliably transition between straight mode when open and corner mode when closed within 400 milliseconds, and whether the teams can guarantee there will be no repeat of the failures that have alarmed Verstappen.
The regulations already state that failure of the system must result in the wing returning to its corner-mode position. However, the FIA could demand extra safety measures, either through mechanical changes or revised behaviour on corner entry.
In the most severe scenario, the governing body could decide that such wing-opening concepts are too risky and move to stamp them out on safety grounds. It also has the power to prevent a car from taking part if its construction is deemed dangerous.
Ferrari has not suffered a major issue with its version since introducing it, while Red Bull now faces the urgent task of proving Verstappen’s two incidents are not evidence of a deeper concept problem.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.