Verstappen voices safety concerns after rear wing failure ends British Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has expressed concern over Red Bull's rear wing reliability after a mechanical failure forced him out of the British Grand Prix, describing the recurring issue as "dangerous" and admitting he is looking forward to taking a break from Formula 1 following a frustrating weekend.

The reigning world champion endured a difficult afternoon at Silverstone, where Red Bull struggled to match its pace from the previous race in Austria.

Verstappen's first battle came against teammate Isack Hadjar, who briefly held the advantage before the Dutchman moved ahead thanks to superior race pace.

Although he complained of downshift issues early in the race, Verstappen remained firmly in contention for a podium, battling George Russell and Lewis Hamilton as the race developed.

Russell's slow puncture and Hamilton's five-second penalty for moving before the start appeared to strengthen Verstappen's chances of finishing in the top three.

Instead, his race came to an abrupt end in the closing stages when the rear wing failed to close properly, causing a sudden loss of downforce that sent him spinning into the gravel and out of the race.

Reflecting on the incident, Verstappen admitted the result capped an extremely difficult weekend.

"It's not been the outcome we wanted from this weekend," he said. "Right from the start we struggled with balance and top speed in comparison to Isack's car."

While Red Bull showed encouraging pace on the medium tyres, the problems returned after switching to the hard compound: "In the race, we were okay on the Medium but were struggling with pace on the Hard."

Verstappen revealed the rear wing failure was different from, but reminiscent of, the issue that affected him during qualifying in Austria.

"We were fighting for P3 towards the end of the race but had a similar issue to Qualifying in Austria. It was a different fault with the rear wing, where it would not fully attach, meaning we lost a lot of downforce and spun off the track."

He hopes Red Bull can resolve the problem before the championship resumes at Spa-Francorchamps: "I hope the coming weeks are better, and that we can sort things out before Spa."

Speaking later, Verstappen expanded on the seriousness of the failure and questioned the reliability of the rear wing after experiencing similar problems twice in recent races.

"When the rear wing doesn't close fully, you lose a lot of downforce and you spin off the track," he explained. "So, yeah. One time, okay, but two times… this is becoming dangerous for myself. And obviously, I don't want that."

The Dutchman also painted a bleak picture of his overall weekend, admitting the RB22 never felt competitive enough to challenge at the front.

"I don't know," he said when asked where he goes from here after the disappointing result. "I mean… yeah. It's just painful, frustrating. You know, you're trying everything you can. I mean, the whole weekend I'm not happy with the car balance."

He also revealed that the imbalance between the two sides of the garage extended to straight-line performance. The frustrations continued into Sunday's race, leaving Verstappen wishing he had adopted a completely different strategy.

"I'm down on top speed on my side of the garage. Same again today in the race. If it was up to me, I would have started from the pit lane, but yeah."

After one of his most disappointing weekends of the season, Verstappen admitted he simply wanted to step away from Formula 1 for a while.

"At the moment, I'm honestly just looking forward to going home and not thinking about Formula 1," the four-time world champion concluded.