Red Bull RB21 Speculation Thread

[KimiRai]

Red Bull, which arrived at the end of last season with “breathlessness” due to development that did not give the right performance to the RB20, will have more [wind tunnel] time in the first half of the season. A 10 percent increase over the same period in 2024. In total, the Milton Keynes-based team will be able to take advantage of 96 more wind tunnel “runs” and 600 more CFD elements in the first half of 2025 than in the past championship. The Austrian team is reportedly well ahead of its rivals in terms of assembling the new single-seater.

As learned by our editorial staff, on the sidelines of the “technical departure” of Adrian Newey who decided to leave the multi-champion team, the new technical manager Pierre Waché preferred to speed up the work and not a little. Crash test already passed for the Red Bull RB21, which will take the track as early as January for a filming day. The intent is to arrive at the scheduled tests in Bahrain with more knowledge of the merits and flaws of the technical design, to accelerate the car's development in the six-month period when it will have more time to be able to make evolutionary or corrective changes to the RB21.

https://www.funoanalisitecnica.com/2025 ... -2025.html

[f1316]

Red Bull, which arrived at the end of last season with “breathlessness” due to development that did not give the right performance to the RB20, will have more [wind tunnel] time in the first half of the season. A 10 percent increase over the same period in 2024. In total, the Milton Keynes-based team will be able to take advantage of 96 more wind tunnel “runs” and 600 more CFD elements in the first half of 2025 than in the past championship. The Austrian team is reportedly well ahead of its rivals in terms of assembling the new single-seater.

As learned by our editorial staff, on the sidelines of the “technical departure” of Adrian Newey who decided to leave the multi-champion team, the new technical manager Pierre Waché preferred to speed up the work and not a little. Crash test already passed for the Red Bull RB21, which will take the track as early as January for a filming day. The intent is to arrive at the scheduled tests in Bahrain with more knowledge of the merits and flaws of the technical design, to accelerate the car's development in the six-month period when it will have more time to be able to make evolutionary or corrective changes to the RB21.

https://www.funoanalisitecnica.com/2025 ... -2025.html

As mentioned, this timeline is quite unusual for Red Bull who usually wait until the last moment to build the chassis in order to maximise development time.

This could be a symptom of the no-Newey-era (I suspect he favoured the last minute approach because he felt it had the highest ceiling) but I also think it might be because Red Bull have the most low hanging fruit - I think their car had the most “problems” of the top teams in’24. Think about not being able to use the curbs - that’s a lot of ‘free’ laptime left on the table.

I hope I’m wrong (as a Ferrari fan) but I suspect other teams will have to work harder and change more to compete with Red Bull this year.

[organic]

We're hearing a lot more than usual from everyone involved

[Henk_v]

As posted in several other topics; getting a car in early and finish all running projects opens up the possibility to assess and correct the car in the first months and then switch to the new regs.

No team will bet on late season devs...

[lio007]

From DrObbs on X (who has some connections to the team):

The RB21 to be revealed at the F1 75 event live at the O2 on February 18th. My guess is that this will be the RB20 with a slightly modified livery only with changes to some sponsors like BYBIT, etc…. I would guess we won’t see the actual car until testing..

From the whispers and chatter I’ve heard, the RB21 is more likely to be an evolutionary development from the RB20, but the team has been pushing hard to develop a few revolutionary solutions in key areas of the car. The floor and diffuser (boat and volume) will be a heavy focus for 2025, with targeted intention to bring a wider range of operation over a larger set of corners and track types.

I would also assume that a new flexible front wing will also be a key development this winter to help with overall balance and Tyre performance. I haven’t been able to confirm, but I also believe there will be some attention given to the rear suspension to try and unlock more performance and stability.

I also haven’t been able to doubly confirm this, so right now IT’S JUST A RUMOR, but the RB21 crash test may have been successfully passed…. So take that with a grain of salt..

[Henk_v]

Is this year the first year with a full carry over of the rules as far as they impact the tub? For sure 22->23 we had the changes following Zhou's accident and a floor raise.. For 23->24 we had only the driver cooling addition right?

[stewie325]

Red Bull, which arrived at the end of last season with “breathlessness” due to development that did not give the right performance to the RB20, will have more [wind tunnel] time in the first half of the season. A 10 percent increase over the same period in 2024. In total, the Milton Keynes-based team will be able to take advantage of 96 more wind tunnel “runs” and 600 more CFD elements in the first half of 2025 than in the past championship. The Austrian team is reportedly well ahead of its rivals in terms of assembling the new single-seater.

As learned by our editorial staff, on the sidelines of the “technical departure” of Adrian Newey who decided to leave the multi-champion team, the new technical manager Pierre Waché preferred to speed up the work and not a little. Crash test already passed for the Red Bull RB21, which will take the track as early as January for a filming day. The intent is to arrive at the scheduled tests in Bahrain with more knowledge of the merits and flaws of the technical design, to accelerate the car's development in the six-month period when it will have more time to be able to make evolutionary or corrective changes to the RB21.

https://www.funoanalisitecnica.com/2025 ... -2025.html

As mentioned, this timeline is quite unusual for Red Bull who usually wait until the last moment to build the chassis in order to maximise development time.

This could be a symptom of the no-Newey-era (I suspect he favoured the last minute approach because he felt it had the highest ceiling) but I also think it might be because Red Bull have the most low hanging fruit - I think their car had the most “problems” of the top teams in’24. Think about not being able to use the curbs - that’s a lot of ‘free’ laptime left on the table.

I hope I’m wrong (as a Ferrari fan) but I suspect other teams will have to work harder and change more to compete with Red Bull this year.

The cut-off for 2026 devevelopment will be quite soon this year, so it makes sense for all teams to move forward their '25 car development as early as possible.

I wouldn't be surprised if some teams don't bring any upgrades after Imola, unless they get drawn into an unexpected WDC battle.

[ispano6]

Alpine found performance at the end of last year by shortening the nose. RBR and RB with the long nose high down-force never managed to balance it to make it an all-rounder. Let's see what Wache's team does with the nose and getting the crash tests done early.

And what power unit components are they required or allowed to run on the filming day?

[f1rules]

very interesting year coming up for RB. Will the new tech team, which Horner put his faith in, instead of the old guys, be able to deliver? thats the big question. "Dress rehersal" didnt go that well, with last years car from wache, below RB standards, now can he turn it around

[basti313]

And what power unit components are they required or allowed to run on the filming day?

The engine is power reduced by modes and not a pool engine for the season. Basically besides not being able to use racing modes, they can use whatever they want.
I would expect them to use one from last year that early. One that also goes into pre-season is also possible, but I would expect Honda to do some little upgrades, so not sure if they have the newest engines ready.

[Luscion]

Marko on the RB21
https://autoracer.it/it/red-bull-helmut ... mi-passati

“The RB21 will be easier to drive.”
“I would say that the basic concept is ready. The car is basically complete and is now entering the final production phase. At that point it will be possible to see how much weight can be saved.” The main goal will be to make the RB21 an easier car to drive in all conditions, particularly on bumpy road surfaces such as those in Monaco and Singapore: “The engineers' task has been to design a car with a wider operating window that is less critical at the limit and easier for the drivers to control. This means greater predictability and, ideally, consistent performance on all circuits, as McLaren has demonstrated, rather than excelling only on specific tracks.” Another crucial point will be to improve the car's behavior on kerbs, a weakness that has plagued the RB20 throughout 2024: “One of our big difficulties was the inability to deal with kerbs safely. Max used to say that the car 'jumped like a kangaroo,' and on certain circuits this cost us a lot of time. I think these issues have been resolved, but we will only have confirmation in the tests in Bahrain.”

[organic]

According to Motorsport Turkey (who are reliable)

Red bull will not host an event unveiling their real car. They will shake down the rb21 privately at Silverstone as usual and launch the livery at the F1 75 event. But the real car will only seen with good detail at F1 testing

[Vappy]

According to Motorsport Turkey (who are reliable)

Red bull will not host an event unveiling their real car. They will shake down the rb21 privately at Silverstone as usual and launch the livery at the F1 75 event. But the real car will only seen with good detail at F1 testing

As spectacles go, this is a pretty depressing (and unfortunately common) showing for the fans.

[the EDGE]

According to Motorsport Turkey (who are reliable)

Red bull will not host an event unveiling their real car. They will shake down the rb21 privately at Silverstone as usual and launch the livery at the F1 75 event. But the real car will only seen with good detail at F1 testing

As spectacles go, this is a pretty depressing (and unfortunately common) showing for the fans.

When was the last time RB showed a real car before day 1 of testing?

[Wouter]

According to Motorsport Turkey (who are reliable)

They will shake down the rb21 privately at Silverstone as usual
and launch the livery at the F1 75 event. But the real car will only seen with good detail at F1 testing

https://twitter.com/KemalSengulll/statu ... NsW4Q&s=19

Where did you read that? I was looking on the side you mentioned but I can't find this. This is the only article I could find:

https://tr.motorsport.com/f1/news/yeni- ... /10687887/