Red Bull confirms Max Verstappen rear wing findings as return date set

Red Bull technical director Pierre Waché has confirmed that the team has fixed its rear wing reattachment problem after an investigation into Max Verstappen’s accidents in Austria and Britain.

And he has teased that the Macarena-style rear wing could return as soon as next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

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As reported by PlanetF1.com on Thursday, Red Bull has reverted to a previous-spec rear wing for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

The decision came after Verstappen suffered two accidents in consecutive weekends in Austria and Britain caused by an airflow reattachment issue with Red Bull’s updated rear wing.

Verstappen’s accidents were triggered by aerodynamic disruption to the rear wing as it switched from straight mode to cornering mode under the new active aero system for the F1 2026 season.

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The four-time world champion described the situation “super dangerous” after spinning out of the race at Silverstone, telling PlanetF1.com and other media outlets that he was “really fed up with it” after being “lucky” to escape unharmed from his recent accidents.

In an update at Spa, Waché has confirmed that Red Bull has resolved the problem with the rear wing following a post-British Grand Prix investigation.

He said: “It’s a mechanical problem that we spot after the accident at Silverstone.

“We fixed it. We are trying to prove that we are bulletproof before putting it back on the car and it should be ready for Budapest.”

Asked if a mechanical fault was not already obvious to Red Bull after Verstappen’s first crash in Austria, he replied: “After Silverstone it is clear now.

“We looked at the wing and we know what happened. We know how to fix it.

“That is just to make sure that it’s ready and bulletproof.”

Pressed on whether the issue itself is with the actuation mechanism, Waché said: “Yeah, it’s part of it.

“I don’t want to be too precise on what we are doing because it’s part of the benefit of this wing, because it’s a performance benefit to use it.

“But we take it seriously. We discuss with FIA internally because it’s our duty to make the car safe.

“But we will make the part stronger and you will see this wing back soon.”

Asked if Red Bull has demonstrated to the FIA that its fixes to the rear wing are safe, Waché revealed that F1’s governing body is already satisfied with the changes.

Yet he added that Red Bull itself is more “cautious” with the team keen to minimise the risk level.

He said: “We’ve proved it to them [the FIA] what we’ve what we done.

“I think it’s more on our side that we are cautious now. We don’t want to take any risk and we want to be 100 per cent sure.”

Asked if it is more likely that the rear wing will return at the Dutch Grand Prix on the other side of the summer break, he added: “It could be interesting for Budapest.”

It is possible that Red Bull could evaluate its fixes to the rear wing in practice in Hungary before making a final decision on whether to race the component.

In China earlier this season, Ferrari opted to run its own rotating rear wing in practice before taking it off both cars ahead of qualifying.

The Scuderia did not run its rotating rear wing in a race for the first time until the Miami Grand Prix seven weeks later, the same race Red Bull debuted its own version.

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