Max Verstappen says he is 'fed up' with his Red Bull car after another 'dangerous' crash during British GP

Max Verstappen said a fault with his Red Bull car that caused him to crash out of the British Grand Prix is “dangerous” and that he is getting “really fed up” with the issue.

Verstappen was on course to finish third at Silverstone on Sunday when he spun at the high-speed Stowe corner, leaving his car beached in the gravel.

The incident was similar to Verstappen’s crash in qualifying at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, with the four-time world champion explaining that both spins have been caused by his rear wing failing to fully close after opening to provide more speed on a straight.

Verstappen told Sky Sports F1: “The same as Austria – the rear wing just doesn’t fully close.

“I saw the analysis. It looks like it closes, but it doesn’t. It closes but it’s just (a little bit open) and you lose a lot of rear downforce. And that’s why the car just spins off the track.

“When it happens one time, that can happen, faults happen. Two times, it’s getting very dangerous for me because you can really hurt yourself at these high-speed corners when it happens.”

The incident comes amid heavy speculation over Verstappen’s future with the team, with the Dutchman’s camp understood to have held talks with McLaren last month.

In a separate interview, in regard to his safety, Verstappen added: “I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here, but that’s why you get really fed up with it.”

‘Just another painful weekend’

Verstappen was only on course for a podium because of issues for both Mercedes cars, and he was also aided by being able to make his second pit stop under a virtual safety car.

George Russell had looked likely to pass Verstappen before suffering a slow puncture, while Kimi Antonelli had been chasing down eventual winner Charles Leclerc when he suffered a wheel-guard failure.

Verstappen was also only able to battle with Lewis Hamilton, who finished third, because the Ferrari driver had received a five-second penalty for a false start.

For those reasons, Verstappen was not overly enthused by the fact he had been on course for a strong result.

He told Sky Sports F1: “We got lucky, right? Lewis had that five-second penalty. We had a VSC at one point, George had a slow-puncture I think, Kimi had a problem, so that’s why you put yourself in that position.

“Even if we finished on the podium, it would have been a podium that we didn’t deserve on pace because on the hard tyres we were nowhere, I had no grip.

“I probably got a bit lucky with George and Lewis fighting. It was actually quite entertaining to watch in my mirror. I was like, ‘thank you!’

“But we were just simply too slow. On the medium, maybe a little bit better, but still the balance was so bad for me, the whole weekend and in the race again, that I can’t push at all.

“At least if you hope even if you have a difficult weekend balance-wise to finish the race, but we can’t even do that all the time. It’s just another painful weekend.”

‘Very unpleasant’ – Mekies says Verstappen right to be unhappy

Red Bull chief Laurent Mekies said Verstappen was right to be unhappy as he reflected on an “unpleasant” situation for both driver and team.

“He’s right not to be happy,” Mekies told reporters.

“It is very unpleasant for drivers to be let down by the car in the high-speed corners in two consecutive races, whether it be for two different reasons.

“And it is in a much smaller scale also extremely unpleasant for us as a group to send our drivers to the gravel trap, so he’s right to be unhappy.

“I have no doubt that as a team we will put in place what is necessary for that not to happen again, even if we fail to do that today.

“And we take that as seriously as one can do, and therefore the minimum that Max can feel today is being unhappy.”

Formula 1’s summer run continues with the Belgian Grand Prix at legendary Spa-Francorchamps on July 17-19, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

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