No mistake: Verstappen blocked due to a rear wing problem

from SPIELBERG (AUSTRIA)
The record in the second sector had fired up the public in the stands, making them dream of an unexpected front row. But Max Verstappen still had to deal with the third sector, the real Achilles’ heel of the renewed RB22 on the home curves of the Red Bull Ring. The first immediate sensation was that the Dutchman was back in Super Max mode, sensing the great opportunity of an important result. He believed it and tried to push himself beyond the limit, but ended up disastrously against the barriers on the outside of turn 9. A problem with the rear wing “Max had a problem with the rear wing, which wasn’t closing properly. I think it’s linked to the updates” is how Isack Hadjar commented on his teammate’s accident to the media present, including . Confirmation also comes from Laurent Mekies, who went into more detail analyzing the technical problem on Verstappen’s RB22: “The most important thing is that Max is well. He made an excellent first attempt in Q3 and his last lap was very fast until he lost control of the car at turn 9. The dynamics of the accident were quite unusual and we lost aerodynamic performance at the rear. This gave Max no chance to take the corner. As a team we take full responsibility responsibility for what happened and we offer him our apologies.” What a risk in Q2 Qualifying was quite eventful for Red Bull. In Q2 Verstappen himself managed to get back into the Top-10 by just 40 thousandths of a margin over Gasly, using only a set of Soft tires to try to have more cards to play with Sunday’s strategy. “Not sending Max for a second attempt in Q2 was certainly a risky decision, but we knew we had to take some risks after deciding to face qualifying with only three sets of new Soft tyres. The idea with which we approached the weekend was to have more strategic options for the race” said Mekies. Many updates that are not easy to manage. Red Bull’s entire Austrian weekend was characterized by incessant work on fine-tuning and assembling the large package of updates brought to the home race. Lots of extensive work in the pits since Thursday, with the Milton Keynes mechanics working hard on both Verstappen and Hadjar’s cars until just a few minutes before each session. “Whenever you introduce a significant update, it’s never about simply plug-and-play. The real challenge is understanding the package, identifying its optimal operating window and maximizing its potential over the course of the weekend. We’re still learning, but the qualifying result was an encouraging first step. The improved pace demonstrated the progress made with the package we brought to Austria,” concluded Mekies.

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-28 16:00:00