F1 guru shares intriguing theory behind Verstappen's British GP incident

Just as at the Red Bull Ring, Verstappen suddenly lost control of his RB22 at Silverstone while firmly in contention for a podium finish, sliding into the gravel and being forced to retire, adding another tough result to what has so far been a season full of setbacks.

In his column for The Race, Anderson explored several possible explanations behind the two similar incidents. The former Jordan technical director suggested there is unlikely to be a fundamental flaw with Red Bull's rear wing itself, instead pointing to factors such as crosswinds, turbulent airflow or even a minor imperfection on the wing surface. He also raised the possibility that Red Bull may be operating extremely close to the aerodynamic limit across the entire car, making its behaviour in high-speed corners increasingly unpredictable.

Anderson also put forward another interesting theory, suggesting the same issue could be affecting McLaren. He explained that teams can make components in this critical area more robust, but doing so inevitably comes at the expense of performance. In his view, Formula 1 is always a compromise between reliability and outright speed, and Red Bull does not yet appear to have found the right balance.

Speaking to GPblog among others in Silverstone, Mekies said Red Bull is prepared to take whatever action is required to guarantee reliability, even if that means abandoning its current specification. While the team has used the latest concept since Miami, he explained that it is still too early to conclude whether the recent failures are rooted in that package or caused by another factor, with every possibility still under investigation.

The Frenchman also admitted Verstappen's reaction was entirely justified after suffering two unrelated reliability failures in high-speed corners across consecutive race weekends. Mekies said those incidents have been just as difficult for the team to accept, stressing that Red Bull takes full responsibility for preventing similar problems in the future and is treating the matter as a top priority.