FIA investigates Red Bull, Ferrari's rotating F1 wings after Max Verstappen crash

Motorsport.com understands that the governing body has written to both Ferrari and Red Bull regarding their rotating rear wings, nicknamed the ‘Macarena wing’ since their introduction in Miami.

Ferrari were the first team to unveil a rotating rear wing for active aerodynamics in pre-season testing in Bahrain, in a bid to reduce drag even further. Initially, China was targeted as its race debut, but Ferrari decided not to use the design until the Miami Grand Prix.

Red Bull also rolled out its own version in Florida, although technical director Pierre Wache stressed the inspiration had not come from Ferrari. In fact Red Bull had been developing their own concept since November 2025, a design that spins in the opposite direction to Ferrari's wing.

The Red Bull rear wing is more aggressive in the size of the active aerodynamic opening it creates and therefore in the amount of drag reduction it can achieve on the straights.

Ferrari has yet to experience any technical problems with its Macarena wing but Red Bull has seen two failures on Verstappen’s car.

Following his crashes at Spielberg and Silverstone, Verstappen described the situation as “super dangerous”.

Are additional checks or requirements required?

Although the team has said that the incidents in Spielberg and Silverstone were caused by two different problems, Verstappen described the whole situation as “super dangerous” after his crash last Sunday.

Both accidents provide enough cause for the FIA to ask Ferrari and Red Bull for further clarification. At this stage the ask is largely for further information to ensure both teams are fully compliant with all safety requirements whilst the system is operational.

Among other things, those requirements include a maximum transition time of 400 milliseconds within which the rear wing must close. Logic suggests, however, that this time limit does not necessarily mean that the airflow has reattached completely.

The technical regulations say: "Any adjustment of RW Flap can only be controlled by the FIA Standard ECU and must have a maximum transition time between the two fixed positions of no more than 400ms, measured from the instant at which the command to change mode is issued by the FIA Standard ECU to the moment the position sensor, connected to the FIA Standard ECU, confirms that the commanded fixed position has been reached.”

“Now the primary objective of the FIA is to sit down with Ferrari and Red Bull and discuss if, in light of recent incidents, both teams are fully compliant with all the requirements.

Only then will the governing body decide whether more rules or checks are needed, for example if Red Bull is found to have complied with all existing requirements but such incidents can still occur.

The worst case scenario is that the FIA could decide to ban the concept for the rest of the season or for 2027, but that is not the aim of the current investigation and is not immediately on the cards at this stage.

McLaren is also working on a rotating wing but so far only Ferrari and Red Bull have been asked to do so by the FIA

FIA request only applies to Ferrari and Red Bull, not McLaren

Red Bull has previously said it will decide whether it wishes to run the rotating rear wing at Spa-Francorchamps next week. Other than the FIA request, Red Bull can ill-afford another rear wing failure – especially with Verstappen’s frustration mounting behind the scenes. “We are going to review the full area to make sure we leave zero chance for that to happen again,” Mekies said on Sunday evening. We will do what is necessary to be on the safe side.

The need to take a closer look at the idea of the rotating rear wing has increased as more F1 teams develop their own versions. McLaren did bring a rotating rear wing to Austria for the first time, but they did not yet consider the design ready for use, not even during a free practice session.

Andrea Stella’s team also decided not to run the new rear wing over the Silverstone sprint weekend because of the format of the weekend, but hinted the wing could debut in Belgium.

Motorsport.com understands that the FIA’s current request was only for Ferrari and Red Bull and did not extend to McLaren at this stage.