Red Bull Boss Says Verstappen 'Right to Be Unhappy' After Silverstone Failure

Max Verstappen made clear he was "fed up" after another high-speed crash at Silverstone cost him a podium finish, and Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies is not arguing with him. Verstappen's RB22 suffered a rear-wing failure heading into Stowe, sending him into the gravel in a frightening incident that mirrored his qualifying crash in Austria just one week earlier.

Why it matters:

This marks the second consecutive race where a mechanical fault has pitched one of F1's most controlled drivers into a high-speed accident. The repeated failures undermine Red Bull's reliability credentials and raise serious safety concerns, especially as Verstappen warned he could "really hurt himself" if the pattern continues. For a team that prides itself on engineering excellence, letting a championship-caliber driver down twice in a row is unacceptable.

The details:

• The failure occurred when the RB22's rear wing did not fully close on approach to Stowe, breaking the car's aerodynamic stability through the high-speed corner.
• Verstappen escaped injury but emphasized his growing frustration, noting that while one failure is understandable, two in a row at high speed becomes "very dangerous."
• Mekies, approaching one year as team principal, openly backed his driver's anger. He called it "extremely unpleasant" for the team to send a driver into the gravel and admitted Verstappen had been let down.
• Red Bull has identified the cause but stressed it was a different failure from the Austria incident. Mekies declined to share specifics but committed to reviewing the "full area" to prevent a third occurrence.
• The Silverstone crash cost Verstappen a likely podium after a strong race, compounding the damage to his weekend and championship prospects.

What's next:

Red Bull faces a race against time to restore driver confidence before the next round. Mekies insisted the team will treat the issue with utmost seriousness and ensure there is "zero chance" of another repeat. With Verstappen's patience wearing thin, the pressure is now on Red Bull's engineering department to deliver a bulletproof fix and prove the RB22 can be trusted at the limit.