Twice in consecutive race weekends, Max Verstappen has been pitched into the gravel at high speed by a rear wing that refused to cooperate. The FIA has now decided it would quite like some answers, and both Red Bull and Ferrari have been contacted over their rotating ‘Macarena’ rear wing designs.
Same Outcome, Different Fault
Verstappen crashed in Austria qualifying and then again at Silverstone when his rear wing failed to close properly on entry to high-speed corners. Red Bull have been at pains to stress the two incidents had different root causes. As Verstappen himself put it:
“Different fault but same outcome. While turning in, the rear wing is not fully attaching and you lose a lot of downforce and just spin off.” – Max Verstappen
Two different faults, two gravel traps. At some point, calling it a coincidence stops being convincing. You can read more on Red Bull’s ongoing Macarena wing crisis here.
What the FIA Is Actually Checking
The governing body’s initial request focuses on compliance, specifically whether both teams are meeting the 400-millisecond maximum transition time the regulations mandate for wing closure. That sounds straightforward until you appreciate the critical detail: the wing closing mechanically is not the same as the airflow reattaching. The regulations clock stops when the position sensor confirms closure. Physics, unfortunately, does not.
The Macarena wings rotate roughly 225 degrees to open and close, compared to around 45 degrees for conventional DRS systems. That means the final critical degrees of closure happen at roughly five times the speed. Red Bull’s version is more aggressive than Ferrari’s in its aerodynamic opening, and so far Ferrari has reported no safety concerns whatsoever with its own design. That asymmetry is telling.
Red Bull’s Problem Is Deeper Than a Wing
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies vowed to leave no stone unturned, but the uncomfortable truth is that the team may be running its aero surfaces too close to the stall margin. Push the downforce envelope hard enough and the working window for airflow reattachment shrinks to almost nothing. Verstappen’s patience with the team is already threadbare, and another failure at Spa would be more than embarrassing.
Notably, the FIA request currently covers only Red Bull and Ferrari. McLaren has been developing its own rotating wing but has yet to race it, and is not included in the probe at this stage. In the most extreme scenario, the FIA could ban the concept entirely, either for the remainder of 2026 or heading into 2027.
A Reckoning That Was Predictable
Red Bull have always pushed every technical regulation to its absolute limit. That hunger is precisely why they dominated for years. But there is a difference between clever and reckless, and crashing your lead driver at high speed twice in seven days suggests the line has been crossed. The FIA asking polite questions now is the sporting equivalent of a formal warning. Red Bull would be wise not to need a third.
