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Red Bull’s Struggles with New RB21: Behind the Scenes of Pre-Season Formula 1 Testing

Carl Harrison by Carl Harrison
February 28, 2025
in Motorsports
Reading Time: 3 mins read
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Red Bull’s Struggles with New RB21: Behind the Scenes of Pre-Season Formula 1 Testing

Formula One F1 - Pre Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - February 28, 2025 Red Bull's Max Verstappen during testing REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki

Red Bull Racing has confessed that their pre-season Formula 1 test didn’t pan out as anticipated, with the latest RB21 not meeting their expectations. The team’s aim was to craft a car for the current season that had an expanded operating window, following the mid-season hiccups it faced with the RB20 in 2024. Despite these issues, Max Verstappen managed to clinch the title, edging out Lando Norris.

However, their 2025 car seems to be facing some turbulence. Reports from the Bahrain testing suggest that the car’s performance hasn’t been up to the mark, prompting Red Bull to acknowledge that enhancements are needed before the start of the season, especially if it wants to challenge McLaren at the forefront.

Reflecting on the concluding day of the test run, Red Bull’s technical director Pierre Wache confessed that the test wasn’t as seamless as they had projected. “We encountered more issues than we had anticipated. It’s crucial that we uncover such problems here rather than later, and that’s why we’re here – to understand the car better,” stated Wache.

In an attempt to understand the car’s dynamics, Red Bull conducted various setup experiments over the three-day period. However, Wache admitted to feeling disquieted as not all efforts bore fruit, and the progress wasn’t as substantive as they had hoped. “At times, the car didn’t respond as we had envisioned. Although we are heading in the right direction, the quantum of progress wasn’t as significant as we had expected. It’s something we need to work on before the first race and for future enhancements,” Wache added.

Verstappen, who was driving a distinctly speedy car that dominated the early part of the previous season, acknowledged that the team is starting 2025 on a less optimistic note. Commenting on his final day in the car before heading to Australia, Verstappen said, “It wasn’t as bad, but there’s still some work to do. However, it’s what we had anticipated and we are committed to keep working and improving.”

As the team heads into Melbourne, Verstappen is hopeful that going through all the data will provide more insights. “It’s challenging to gauge everyone’s pace, so there’s still a lot of work ahead of us. We are excited to start the actual racing in Australia,” he added.

Trackside impressions by Scott Mitchell-Malm align with the sentiments expressed by Red Bull and Verstappen. Red Bull had already been playing catch-up after a water leak slightly limited Liam Lawson’s full day in the car on Thursday. Then, rumors circulated that a 2024 characteristic of understeer leading to exit oversteer was still noticeable when Verstappen took over on Friday.

During a two-hour trackside trip at the end of the day, Verstappen was seen with flo-vis on a sidepod on three distinct runs – twice on the right-hand side, once on the left, and in different parts of the sidepod each time. This indicates that Red Bull was still seeking answers until the final moments of testing.

While testing is precisely what teams were here for, and Red Bull was experimenting a lot this week to understand how much it has broadened its working window, which was its main target for this car. But flo-vis in the final hour is a rare sight and not normally a sign of a team that has it all together.

Even though Verstappen seemed to make it work well enough late on – and other runs proved this can be a quick car – it doesn’t look ‘easy quick’. This is very easily explained by the fact Red Bull hasn’t yet made the progress it thought it would, and encountered more issues than it expected.

There’s time for that to change before Australia but if it does not, and the lead group is as tight as it looks, it could be the difference between Red Bull being second or fourth in the lead group.

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