Formula 1 Spanish GP
Max Verstappen downplays flexi-wings clampdown: "It's all manageable”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen weighs in on whether the FIA's flexing front wing clampdown at the Spanish GP will impact the pecking order
Filip Cleeren
Edited: May 29, 2025, 5:51 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Max Verstappen says the fresh clampdown on front wing flexing won't impact his Red Bull's performance and is sceptical about the FIA's intervention affecting his rivals as well.
After imposing stricter limits on rear wing flexing in the off-season, and tightening them further in China and Japan, F1's governing body is also implementing harsher tests from this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
Many teams and observers in the F1 paddock have been eagerly looking forward to this weekend's race to see how it impacts the pecking order. Some believe frontrunner McLaren has been the most advanced at exploiting aero-elasticity, which is supposed to help with the car's set-up and the compromise between low- and high-speed corners.
But Verstappen, McLaren's main challenger, isn't so convinced and feels the change won't have a big impact.
"Not for us. I can say that with quite a lot of confidence," he said on Thursday in the Barcelona paddock.
"I think those wings never really gave us a massive performance gain. I don't know if we got it wrong or didn't extract the most out of it.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Erik Junius
"But even for the other teams, I'm sure it's all manageable. If you have a good car, you have a good car. The front wing bends a bit less."
Red Bull has made progress in recent weeks unlocking performance from its RB21 car, and in Imola Verstappen was able to defeat the McLaren in a clean fight, the first time this year that the team has been undisputedly quicker over a race stint.
But Verstappen still feels McLaren may have underperformed in Italy, and when quizzed by Motorsport.com added that he doesn't think their relative performance at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will necessarily carry over to the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, which is another high-downforce layout that should suit the Red Bull.
"Imola was, of course, at the end very positive. But to try and replicate something like that... I don't know. We'll try to do our best," the four-time world champion said.
"But I also don't know if Imola was just a very strong showing from us or maybe a weaker showing from McLaren. It's very hard to tell."
Last week's Monaco Grand Prix did show Red Bull's long standing weaknesses on bumpy street circuit is still present, so he has singled out high-downforce circuits with fast corner and less kerb riding as Red Bull's ideal hunting ground.
Read Also:
Formula 1What F1 is clamping down on with flexi-wings at the Spanish GP
Formula 1Lando Norris claps back at McLaren wing scrutiny: "They have absolutely no idea"
"All the street circuits [will be difficult] car-wise," he said. "And I hate street circuits. I think the more high-speed corners, that will be more competitive for us, actually, because I think that's where you don't really need to hit any kerbs.
"Our car is quite good in the high-speed. We just need to try and bring that a bit more down to the medium-speed and especially the low-speed. We've won two races that have been at quite high-speed tracks, so I think it shows that that's where we are strong.
"All the other tracks where we've been lacking a bit, it's all been a little bit more low to medium-speed."
Photos from Spanish GP - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
2025 Spanish Grand Prix - Thursday
Formula 1
58
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Lewis Hamilton dismisses “BS” speculation over rift with Ferrari F1 race engineer
Next article What the F1 drivers think of potential Monaco GP track changes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
22 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
More from
Max Verstappen
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 d
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
More from
Red Bull Racing
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
Formula 1 17 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Tsolov named Red Bull, Racing Bulls reserve driver after missing out on 2027 F1 race seat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 d
Tsolov named Red Bull, Racing Bulls reserve driver after missing out on 2027 F1 race seat
Latest news
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 10 min
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
48 min
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
1 h
McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe