Following successive accidents involving Max Verstappen, both attributed to the Red Bull's rotating rear wing, the FIA is to look into the the device.

However, its probe is not limited to the Austrian team, for Ferrari's version is to be looked at also.

Ironically, it was Ferrari that devised the device, which first appeared in pre-season testing, and subsequently made its race debut in Miami, having been run since without any issues.

McLaren has also developed its own version but this has yet to appear, the team was going to try it in Austria but then decided against doing so. Opting not to use it at Silverstone, due to it being a Sprint weekend, and therefore only one practice session, it might yet make its debut at Spa.

Safety is the name of the game, as far as the FIA is concerned, and as Red Bull launches its own investigation, the sport's governing body is following suit.

It's believed that the failure to the Red Bull in Austria was due to a delay in the wing returning from Straight Line Mode, and although the cause in Silverstone is not known it is thought to be a different type of failure.

"We understand what happened at the Red Bull Ring," team boss Laurent Mekies told reporters in Silverstone. "I'm not going to go into the details because I don't think it would be right, but we understand the failure.

"From the early analysis of today, we have suffered a different type of failure," he added, referring to the off which cost Verstappen a potential podium finish in the British Grand Prix. "It doesn't make it better," he admitted. "It is clear that in the succession of events, whether or not the failure is different doesn't really matter.

"We are going to review the full area to make sure we leave zero chance for it to happen again. We have raced quite a few races with that concept now. It's too early in the analysis to establish whether it's an issue with the concept or something else. But we are going, for sure, to leave no stone unturned when it comes to it and we have all the options open."

Red Bull's version of the Macarena, or Rotisserie, wing also made its debut in Miami, and technical boss, Pierre Wache was adamant that the device had been developed independently.

Indeed, the Red Bull version operates in the opposite direction, the aim being increased drag reduction courtesy of a more aggressive opening.

The rules dictate that the flap on the rear wing must transition between its fixed positions in 400 milliseconds, the timing being measured from the instant the electronic command is issued until the sensor confirms the change. However, this does not mean that the airflow has stabilised once the wing has moved, and it is thought that this will form the crux of the FIA's investigation.

Red Bull has yet to decide whether the wing will be used at Spa, but, FIA probe aside, Verstappen's claim that the Silverstone off was "super dangerous" will definitely impact any decision, seeing that Spa is one of the fastest and most demanding tracks on the calendar.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 5 minutes ago

"Ah yes, the "can't beat it, get it banned" tactics rears its ugly mug once again. To Red Bull, in the words of their own former team principal: "Well, change your car! You've got a problem. Change your f***ing car!"."

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2. Posted by Spindoctor, 4 hours ago

"@Max Noble - Just so. I've read various nominally "technical" analyses of RBR's wing problem, but it seems there are (at least) two, so normal analytic procedures are at somewhat of a loss.

More importantly\interestingly, as @Burton has pointed-out it seems the seemingly "safe" Ferrari wing is in danger of being deemed "unsafe" too. Quite how this would be justified logically eludes me - there's no evidence...

As I remarked in another thread, it seems a bit strange \unfair to investigate a system that has worked effectively so far without failure because a competitor's clearly less-developed, possibly slightly bodged "copycat" version has failed twice.

"

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3. Posted by Superbird70, 4 hours ago

"If the front and rear wings were fixed, this wouldn't happen."

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4. Posted by Max Noble, 6 hours ago

"“…a different failure.” That’s bad. If you consistently get one type of failure - which you can reproduce in “the lab” - and hence study and solve, then all is good (eventually). If you’re getting different failures you simply have no idea what’s happening. That’s not good. I remember (years ago) Mike Hakkenien stating he had “Lost faith in the car” If V. Max suffers a similar malady things are going South very fast for Red Bull…
"

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5. Posted by Burton, 6 hours ago

"Tombazis is such a spineless coward that he brings Ferrari to the discussion for no reason, instead of confronting only the problematic team."

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FIA 'checking' 'Macarena' wings

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