The FIA is in discussions with both Red Bull and Ferrari over the designs of their 'Macarena' revolving rear wings, following safety concerns prompted by Max Verstappen's crash at Formula 1's British Grand Prix.

Verstappen spun off into the gravel at Stowe late in the race at Silverstone last weekend as the result of a problem with his rear wing.

While the exact details of what happened to trigger the incident have not been revealed, Verstappen was far from impressed - especially because it came a week after an airflow reattachment issue in Austria pitched him off the track at the penultimate corner in qualifying.

Speaking after the British GP about his angry radio messages in the wake of his crash, Verstappen explained: "Well, at that point it's super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself, two times! I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here, but that's why you get really fed up with it."

Chasing answers

Red Bull is looking into what happened at Silverstone, and team principal Laurent Mekies vowed it would do "whatever is necessary to be on the safe side" for the next race in Belgium.

That could even mean, if Red Bull cannot be convinced its revolving rear wing is fault proof, going back to the more conventional design that it used at the start of the season.

A decision on that would rest on whether there is a link between the Austria and Silverstone incidents related to the wing concept, or if other factors were in play.

Mekies added: "We have raced this [concept] since Miami. There have been a number of races, so it's too early in the analysis to establish whether it's an issue with the concept or something else.

"But we are going for sure to leave no stone unturned when it comes to it, and we have all the options open."

But The Race has learned that Verstappen's latest incident, and his concerns about the situation being dangerous, has prompted the FIA to get involved.

On the FIA's radar

Motor racing's governing body always prioritises safety, and the Verstappen crashes have now prompted it to chase a better understanding of the revolving wing designs from the two teams that are running them.

That is why it is involved in talks with technical chiefs at both Red Bull and Ferrari to better evaluate the situation and see if any action needs to be taken.

The Ferrari and Red Bull designs are very different to what other teams run as the upper flaps rotate much more - with Ferrari's believed to move roughly 225 degrees clockwise when it switches into straight mode.

The idea behind the wing is that by effectively flipping upside down, it dramatically reduces drag and can even induce a tiny amount of lift to help pull back on rolling resistance.

Both Ferrari and Red Bull had their design ideas approved by the FIA beforehand and will almost certainly have had to prove that there were no safety risks from the outset.

The latest talks will be reviewing the behaviours of the wings, which must transition between straight mode when open and corner mode when closed within 400 milliseconds.

Next steps

Those the safety talks will determine whether the FIA is satisfied the teams can guarantee there will be no repeat rear wing troubles in the future, or if it needs to step in and take action.

The governing body could in theory demand that extra safety measures are put in place by the teams to ensure that the wings cannot fail - which could either be through mechanical aspects or adjusting their behaviour on the entry to corners.

The rules are already clear that: "The design is such that failure of the system will result in it returning to its corner mode position."

One extreme option, however, could be for the governing body to decide that the recent crashes are enough for it to decide that wings that open in such a way need stamping out on safety grounds.

With other teams, including McLaren, pursuing such low-drag rear wing solutions, the use of them is likely to become more prevalent so it could make sense to outlaw them either now or for 2027 if the FIA feels the risks are too great.

The FIA has the power to ban any car from entering an F1 race if it is deemed to have a part that it considers unsafe.

Article C1.2 of the technical regulations states: "The stewards may prohibit the participation of a vehicle whose construction is deemed to be dangerous. Should the relevant information become apparent during a session, such a decision may apply with immediate effect."

While Red Bull has suffered two high-profile incidents with its wing, Ferrari has had no major problem with its design since it first started racing it.

The wing first appeared in pre-season testing then ran in practice at the Chinese GP, but was not carried through into the rest of that weekend because the team was not 100% sure that it would work flawlessly the first time out.

It subsequently reappeared at the Miami GP and has stayed on the car since.