F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Red Bull grid drama sparked by cracked rear wings!

Red Bull revealed that the team's pre-race scramble on the grid at Silverstone was caused by the sudden discovery of minor cracks in the rear wing endplates of the team's RB15 cars.

In the minutes heading into the start of Sunday's race, a frenzy broke out on the grid, with the Red Bull crews seen changing the rear wing endplates on the cars of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit undertook the changes after getting the all-clear from the FIA as the cars were still under Parc Fermé conditions.

"One of the mechanics doing one of the checks found a crack in the rear wing of Max, so we applied to get permission to change it," team boss Christian Horner explained after the race.

"Then, there was an inspection on Pierre’s and we could see the very start of a crack appearing in the same place. So permission to change them both was granted just as a security, and we did that."

As an extra measure of precaution, crews also consolidated the endplates with tape and glue.

"The tape wasn’t going to reinforce it, it was more some glue that went on," Horner added.

The team was spared any further drama linked to the wing elements in the race, with Verstappen and Gasly unaffected by the issue, but the problem will warrant some forensic analysis this week back at Red Bull's base.

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Michael Delaney

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