Red Bull parks ‘Macarena’ rear wing for Belgian GP after Verstappen crashes

Red Bull is switching back to its original 2026 Formula 1 rear wing after a brace of worrying offs for Max Verstappen with its upside-down concept.

Rival team Ferrari was the first squad to roll out what it dubbed a ‘Macarena’ rear wing in winter testing, with a main flap that rotated 180 degrees when straight mode was activated, optimising drag levels on the straights.

Red Bull introduced its own version of a rotating rear wing in May’s Miami Grand Prix, coming up with its own concept with a different mechanism than Ferrari’s solution.

The rear wing caused early headaches for Red Bull, with Verstappen suffering a heavy crash in Austrian Grand Prix qualifying after the wing failed to close properly. A similar incident happened in the British Grand Prix, where Verstappen spun into the gravel at Stowe.

Red Bull has now reverted to its original, conventional rear wing design it started the season with. “We’ll go back on the old one and see when the latest one is ready again to be used,” Verstappen confirmed on Thursday.

Autosport understands Red Bull is still keen to use the rotating rear wing as soon as possible. It is working on a number of modifications at its Milton Keynes factory to solve what the Dutchman called a “dangerous” problem.

The high-profile incidents have prompted governing body the FIA to take a closer look at the design of both Red Bull’s and Ferrari’s rear wing.

But while Red Bull is forced to re-design its solution for obvious reliability and safety reasons, Ferrari is understood to be relaxed about its own design, which has hitherto worked flawlessly and has been tested and developed over a long period of time.

McLaren is the third team known to have worked on an upside-down rear wing, but the Woking squad parked its design after initially planning to test it in Austrian Grand Prix free practice, deciding the concept needed further development work.

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– The Autosport.com Team