The Dutchman’s race ended at Stowe with four laps remaining after his RB22 snapped away from him as he turned into the high-speed right-hander, sending him into the gravel and out of a potential podium finish.
His frustration was immediate over team radio as he came to rest.
“I’m stuck, mate,” Verstappen said.
“Fuck this car, fuck! Unbelievable. Fuck this.”
Verstappen later said the incident was caused by a rear wing failure, with the issue producing the same outcome as his crash during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix a week earlier.
“Same as Austria. The rear wing just doesn’t fully close,” Verstappen told Sky Sports.
“I saw the analysis. It looks like it closes, but it doesn’t. It closes but it’s just open and you lose a lot of rear downforce. And that’s why the car just spins off the track.
“I mean when it happens one time, you know that can happen. Faults happen. But two times, it’s getting very dangerous for me. Because you can really hurt yourself at these high-speed corners when it happens.”
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Asked whether it was a repeat of the same problem from Austria, Verstappen clarified it was a separate issue.
“Different fault,” he said.
The retirement ended a miserable Silverstone weekend for Verstappen, who had already spent much of the race unhappy with the behaviour of his Red Bull.
He had complained over team radio about downshifts and deployment before the late failure, having struggled to match the pace of the frontrunners across the weekend.
While Verstappen was in podium contention before the incident, he said that position did not reflect Red Bull’s true performance.
“Yeah but we got lucky right? Lewis [Hamilton] had that five second penalty. We had a VSC at one point come in as well,” he said.
“George [Russell] had a slow puncture I think. Kimi [Antonelli] had a problem. So then that’s why you put yourself in that position.
“So even if we would have finished on the podium, it would have been a podium that we didn’t deserve on pace.
“Because on the hard tyres we were nowhere. I had really no grip. And I was surprised.
“Of course I probably I got a bit lucky with George and Lewis fighting. It was actually quite entertaining to watch in my mirrors. I was like ‘thank you.’
“But yeah, we were just simply too slow. On the medium maybe a little bit better. But still the balance was so far out for me the whole weekend, and in the race again, that I just can’t push at all.
“At least you hope even if you have a difficult weekend, balance-wise, to finish the race. But we can’t even do that all the time. So yeah. It’s just another painful weekend.”
The non-score continued a difficult 2026 campaign for the four-time world champion, who admitted he needed time to reset before trying to respond.
“I mean, it would be a very zen person to be optimistic at the moment with what’s happening again this weekend,” he added.
“I’m sorry, but it’s just like that. I need a few days to reset and try again.”
Verstappen sits seventh in the drivers’ standings, 103 points behind championship leader Antonelli.
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