Red Bull revert to old wing adjustment process

Red Bull have revised the manner in which the front wing is adjusted after a “miscommunication” cost Max Verstappen at the Turkish Grand Prix.

With Mercedes struggling in the tricky wet conditions in Saturday’s qualifying, Max Verstappen took advantage of the situation and put his RB16 up onto second place on the grid.

Looking good for the race, the Dutchman’s hopes were thwarted when his front wing was adjusted during a pit stop.

Running a new front wing at the Istanbul circuit that was adjusted in a different manner to the old wing, the mechanic making the adjustment used the old process.

As such the flaps on Verstappen’s wing were seven degrees off, costing him speed and any chance of a victory.

“It was a miscommunication,” Verstappen told Motorsport.com.

“Before the race we were told what to do, because it turned the other way compared to all the other wings as this was a new one.

“During the race something went wrong in explaining that, I think.”

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Red Bull have changed the way in which they adjust the new wing back to the process used on the old one in order to ensure there won’t be a repeat at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

“It will not happen again, of course, because now the wings all work the same again and they all turn the same way,” Verstappen said.

“But [in Turkey] we only had one new front wing, which I thought was better during that weekend so I wanted to use that for the rest of the weekend. Only this wing turned the other way.

“So I think there something went wrong with adjusting it.”

Verstappen heads into the final three races of this season third in the Drivers’ Championship, 27 points behind Valtteri Bottas.

The 23-year-old was second quickest in Friday’s practice, 0.3s slower than championship winner Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas was third while Alex Albon finished P10 after crashing heavily.

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