Talking to Peter Windsor after Max Verstappen’s race-ending spin at Silverstone, caused by a rear DRS (drag reduction system) problem, Mark Slade explains why we shouldn’t have had active aero on the 2026 cars in the first place and why the system remains “exceptionally dangerous”.
Mark Slade played a major role in two World Championships, 34 GP wins, 101 podiums and 40 pole positions while serving as a Race Engineer and Chief Engineer at McLaren, Mercedes, Renault and Haas.
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Imagine a front wing failure at eau rouge. Ratzenberger died as a result of his damaged front wing and went straight on in the wall.
For Redbull, they are clearly incompetant.
If we’re really going for efficiency AND safety, the simple solution is to make the default position of the active aero CLOSED. No need for fancy pirouettes. Just flap open on demand and closed by default. It’s really not that difficult
Yes , fixed wing downforce , boost and battery 🔋 🪫 games are enough only now .
until we return to Formula 1 as the pinnacle of motorsport once again with V10 engines
Yeah …that's a red bull problem not a safety issue
Driver aids & manually operated movable wings.
Both had been deemed illegal for ages until now.
Thank you Peter and Mark for speaking truth to power!
We trust our lives to airplanes that basically have “active aero”. So long as it’s properly R&D’d and tested active aero is perfectly safe. I think it’s a bit of a silly talking point honestly. It’s peak innovation. Active aero and naturally aspirated V8s please.
Ferrari took their wing off when Lewis crashed and they didn't put in back on until they was sure they fixed the problem. Red Bull has to do the same. Why penalise other teams by banning it. If your not 100% sure it works don't put it on the car.
Another Against Ferrari Innovation!✅💯
Why are people blaming just Redbull? Failure can happen to anyone at anytime.
Ofcourse Redbull deserves some blame, that doesn't mean FIA is out of the clear. They should've banned it after pre-season testing.
Ferrari has got nothing to do with it, their wing works in a different way and is perfectly fine. This is a redbull problem, please keep it to redbull.