Episode 155 - 2026 F1 Belgian Grand Prix

So first bit of news we've got is Red Bull intends to actually reintroduce their rotating, quote, Macarena wing on the RB22 at the Hungarian Grand Prix that's actually happening, well, this coming week now as of the release of this episode.

So, pioneered by Ferrari amid Formula One's newest rule set, the rotating wing, which...

Improved straight line performance in straight mode was adopted by Red Bull at the Miami Grand Prix Now I did actually get this a bit of this article from motorsport.com and I will correct them and say Red Bull had actually already been developing their Macarena wing alongside Ferrari's one as well but Ferrari were just kind of earlier out of the gates to reveal theirs and also start you know putting it on to the car on track and And I believe one of the issues that Ferrari did have before they eventually put it on the car permanently was just to make sure that, you know, not only did it close in time, but the airflow actually reattached quickly enough.

And I believe this is the problem that Verstappen's been having with his is that even though it closes before it gets to the corner, there is a bit of a delay for the airflow to actually reattach and the downforce to actually start kicking in.

So, yeah.

Now you know why he kind of keeps having these weird incidences with the swing where he just gets spat out suddenly like that.

However Verstappen, Max Verstappen suffered two crashes as I said in the last two rounds in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring and in the race at Silverstone.

Red Bull went into this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix with its original conventional wing, as you would have seen if you watched the Grand Prix as well.

Still, that's not the end of the road for the upgrade Max Verstappen branded, quote, super dangerous, as Red Bull ponders how to make it safe to use potentially as early as the Hungaroring round.

And I'm going to quote something that was said by one of Red Bull's personnel.

It's a mechanical problem that we spotted after the accident in Silverstone.

Washay, is it Washay? It's Paul Washay, whatever his name is.

Mr. Washay said, we fix it.

We are trying to prove that we are bulletproof before putting it on the car and it should be ready for Budapest.

Pressed on whether or not the problem had been cleared after Austria, Wache insisted.

After Silverstone, it's clear now.

We looked at the wing and we know what happened.

We know how to fix it.

That is just to make sure that it's ready and bulletproof.

So essentially, yeah, the Frenchman conceded that the wing's actuator was part of the issue and explained that the matter had been discussed with the FIA, given it is a safety matter as well.

So yeah, it looks like really it was mainly a hardware issue and that they've kind of sorted that out because if you look at it again, Ferrari is still running theirs fine.

They've had no real problems with it.

McLaren, I believe, are rumored, not even rumored.

I think they do have one they've been trying to test, but they haven't brought it to any of the Grand Prix's yet because again, it's this issue of making sure that this thing works because if that Macarena wing isn't like this rotating wing isn't like you know connecting and reattaching airflow properly that's a big problem for like the driver because essentially it just kills a bunch of downforce on the back of the car and you can't really drive a car that you can't trust will actually have the downforce you expect it to have but yeah that's a red bull on their macarena wing so expect to see that again at the hungara ring or maybe not you never know maybe they might just be cautious again and say yeah let's hold on But yeah, we also had another story come through with Max Verstappen surprising many of us on Thursday by announcing that he had actually signed the 15-year-old Belgian talent.