Max crashes at Silverstone, Leclerc wins: 'Rear wing didn't close'

Published on 05 July 2026 by Florence Cobben

With a solid strategy and strong race pace Max was a shoe-in for a podium spot at the British Grand Prix, but a crash in the closing phases of the race led to a premature race end for the Dutchman. For the second week in a row, it was a rear wing closing failure that sabotaged the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver’s race. It was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who managed to seize his first 2026 win. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium.

Reflecting on the unlucky crash, Max explains: “The same thing happened as in Austria, the rear wing didn't close completely, again. Different problem, same result.” Summarizing his weekend, Max keeps it short and sweet: “Yeah, you could call it (dramatic). It's just ******. I’m totally not happy with it.” In closing, Max has some words about his short-lived bid for a podium place: “Well that's also because of the penalties, safety cars, virtual safety cars… If we had completed the race in P3, we didn't deserve that podium at all.”

Sunny Silverstone was, as ever, the host of the famous British Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) starts from pole position. Max, after suffering from engine problems in qualifying, starts from seventh place. All drivers are starting on the medium tyres. Even before the lights go off, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso is already struggling. He slows to a standstill during the formation lap, but does manage to restart his car to park it in the pit lane. At “Go”, it’s the Ferraris that get away the cleanest. Charles Leclerc and teammate Lewis Hamilton pass by Antonelli and lead the pack down lap 1. Max has a good start, and overtakes McLaren-driver Lando Norris and manages to catch up to Oracle Red Bull Racing-teammate Isack Hadjar. In the third lap Max pulls off an unexpected overtake on Hadjar and slots into fifth place.

n lap 8, Antonelli is in Hamilton’s rearview mirror. While the Italian is applying the pressure, Hamilton gets served a 5 second time penalty. The stewards ruled that he illegally moved his car at the starting grid before the lights went out. After a couple minutes in the Prancing Horse’s slipstream, Antonelli gains on the Brit. It’s at Copse Corner that he deploys his battery and flies by Hamilton to reclaim P2. In the first couple of laps, Max is matching Antonelli, Hamilton and George Russell on race pace. The Dutchman, however, is not satisfied: “Already for a few laps now I haven’t said anything, but the downshifts are so ****”. Engineer GianPiero Lambiase tells Max that he is losing time on the straights due to a car issue, but he’s performing well in the turns and corners.

Slowly but surely Max is gaining on Russell. In lap 17 the battery is sufficiently charged and Max deploys it to take fourth place. Russell tries to fight, but before Max can even go on the attack, he dives into the pits. He’s the first to head in and is clearly angling for an undercut. Max has a good pit stop, switches to the hard tyres, and drops down to seventh place. Hamilton and Russell head in for their tyre change in lap 23. Due to Hamilton’s 5-second time penalty, the Ferrari-driver rejoins the grid behind Russell. Both are behind Max in the pecking order. Two laps later it’s Leclerc’s turn for his tyre change. The race leader switches, like everyone else, to the hard tyres, and slots back into the race behind Antonelli. After thirty laps, Antonelli is leading ahead of Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, and Hamilton. Only the Italian is still due for his pitstop.

In lap 30, Russell and Hamilton start to gain on Max. Behind Max, it's elbows out between the Brits as they swap positions more than once. Russell also tries to take the fight to Max, but the fight is postponed by a slowly deflating tyre. The Mercedes-driver has to head into the pits on lap 34 and drops back to P7. A lap later Antonelli finally gets his tyres changed. With just 17 laps to go, Antonelli switches to a set of hard tyres that he can push flat out till race’s end to try and close the 7.5 second gap to Leclerc. While Antonelli is chasing Leclerc, Hamilton manages to pass Max in lap 38. A lap later, Nico Hülkenberg’s Audi slows to a halt on the track, and a safety car heads out to manage the situation. Max capitalizes on the opportunity to switch to a medium tyre. He stays in fourth place, and prepares to hunt down Hamilton.

With just ten laps to go, Antonelli has decreased the distance to Leclerc to three seconds, but then disaster strikes for the Italian. The Mercedes is struck with an issue and has to retire. The airwaves are buzzing with debate, but after two pit stops Antonelli manages to safely rejoin the fight. He is down to tenth place, and due to serve a five second penalty from exceeding track limits. Misfortune strikes Max next. In lap 48, Max loses control over his car in Stowe, and ends his race in the gravel pit. The four-time world champion is okay, but clarifies over the team radio that he’s not amused with the situation. Max’s crash summons the safety car. The race ends under SC — Leclerc wins his first race of the season, ahead of Russell and Hamilton. Norris and Hadjar cross the line in fourth and fifth place.

Results Grand Prix Great Britain: