The FIA has reportedly held discussions with Red Bull and Ferrari over their ‘Macarena’ Formula 1 rear-wing concepts after back-to-back crashes for Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman has suffered two hairy incidents at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, respectively.
During qualifying for the Austrian GP, Verstappen seemingly lost control of his RB22 heading into the high-speed Turn 9 complex, spinning out and crashing into the barriers.
At the British GP, last weekend, the Red Bull driver crashed out in similar fashion, at Stowe, while running in the final podium place.
After his incident at Silverstone, Verstappen revealed that both his crashes were due to a failure with the Milton-Keynes-based team‘s ‘Macarena’ rear-wing, inspired by Ferrari’s early season design of the same nature.
“It’s super-dangerous because you can really hurt yourself two times,” Verstappen had told media including Motorsport Week.
“I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here. That’s why you get really fed up with it.”
Red Bull and Ferrari face FIA scrutiny over F1 innovation
After Verstappen’s incidents, the governing body of the sport, the FIA, has decided to step in.
Safety is at the fore-front of what the FIA wants to achieve in F1, and the organisation has taken a dim view of such incidents in the past when driver safety is concerned.
Motorsport Week understands that the FIA has held discussions with both, Red Bull and Ferrari over their innovative rear-wing designs.
Red Bull Team Principal and CEO, Laurent Mekies has hinted at the team possibly scrapping the concept for the forthcoming weekends, but Ferrari has not suffered any such failures, in the nine rounds run so far.
That said, the FIA will have the overruling authority to banish these innovations, if it deems it fit.
Reports suggest that banning the ‘Macarena’ rear-wings or outlawing them for the upcoming championship seasons remain a possibility, though subject to the outcome of the discussions held by the FIA with the respective teams.
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