2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Wouter]

Mark Hughes (The Race) in their latest podcast from yesterday about: "Is Verstappen switching to Asin Martin inevatible?
Listen from 5:45 min.

Amid the talk of Max Verstappen heading to Aston Martin in 2026, we address the rumours in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast.

In a follow-up recording to the live shows we staged in London and Birmingham earlier, we tackle some of the vast number of questions we received from the audience - including one about the reigning world champion’s future.

We also discuss other aspects of Aston Martin’s rise, including the influence of Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell over driver decisions and Lance Stroll’s future.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-p ... in-switch/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Ng2oKKklyCKHduSadsQaR

[Seanspeed]

"It's improved [at the moment] in the areas that we understand. But in Formula 1 you're always on the verge of a new problem," laughs the technical director. "That's the reality and that's also why we're here, to anticipate problems that you might have." According to Waché, that's what makes the premier class so interesting. “It is dangerous to blindly trust the system. I am not saying that we should not trust it, but you have to put everything into perspective and know that on the track you do not reproduce exactly what you test.”

And this is where losing Newey hurts badly.

[bananapeel23]

Mark Hughes (The Race) in their latest podcast from yesterday about: "Is Verstappen switching to Asin Martin inevatible?
Listen from 5:45 min.

Amid the talk of Max Verstappen heading to Aston Martin in 2026, we address the rumours in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast.

In a follow-up recording to the live shows we staged in London and Birmingham earlier, we tackle some of the vast number of questions we received from the audience - including one about the reigning world champion’s future.

We also discuss other aspects of Aston Martin’s rise, including the influence of Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell over driver decisions and Lance Stroll’s future.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-p ... in-switch/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Ng2oKKklyCKHduSadsQaR

I just can't see Verstappen leaving Red Bull for 2026 unless Red Bull completely s**** the bed in 2025 and the 2026 car is looking bad. Even then I suspect he would attempt to pick Ferrari or Mercedes over Aston Martin.

[djos]

Mark Hughes (The Race) in their latest podcast from yesterday about: "Is Verstappen switching to Asin Martin inevatible?
Listen from 5:45 min.

Amid the talk of Max Verstappen heading to Aston Martin in 2026, we address the rumours in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast.

In a follow-up recording to the live shows we staged in London and Birmingham earlier, we tackle some of the vast number of questions we received from the audience - including one about the reigning world champion’s future.

We also discuss other aspects of Aston Martin’s rise, including the influence of Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell over driver decisions and Lance Stroll’s future.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-p ... in-switch/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Ng2oKKklyCKHduSadsQaR

I just can't see Verstappen leaving Red Bull for 2026 unless Red Bull completely shits the bed in 2025 and the 2026 car is looking bad. Even then I suspect he would attempt to pick Ferrari or Mercedes over Aston Martin.

If Max was smart, he’d tell AM to get lost.

Personally, I’d want to see at least one season where they make a consistent upward trajectory before I’d even consider driving for them.

[organic]

Mark Hughes (The Race) in their latest podcast from yesterday about: "Is Verstappen switching to Asin Martin inevatible?
Listen from 5:45 min.

Amid the talk of Max Verstappen heading to Aston Martin in 2026, we address the rumours in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast.

In a follow-up recording to the live shows we staged in London and Birmingham earlier, we tackle some of the vast number of questions we received from the audience - including one about the reigning world champion’s future.

We also discuss other aspects of Aston Martin’s rise, including the influence of Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell over driver decisions and Lance Stroll’s future.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-p ... in-switch/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Ng2oKKklyCKHduSadsQaR

I just can't see Verstappen leaving Red Bull for 2026 unless Red Bull completely shits the bed in 2025 and the 2026 car is looking bad. Even then I suspect he would attempt to pick Ferrari or Mercedes over Aston Martin.

New engine manufacturer. For 2026 AMR have new wind tunnel, Newey, Cowell, Honda and no Horner

Red bull are likely to have a trickier period while they get established as an engine manufacturer. Maybe Verstappen leaves but they will remain a destination that will be coveted by top drivers

[nitrotech]

With so much money on the offer, it's inevitable for Max to join Aston, regardless of the proposition of winning championships anytime soon.

It's also a good challenge for Newey to prove he can repeat the success he achieved in Red Bull setup, at Aston. We would know how fast he can build a setup (or not) like he did at Red Bull, a decade and half back. How fast does the Aston engineers can respond to Newey's ways of working. I think 2026 might not be a guaranteed successful start, but 2 or 3 years later may be.

[organic]

Racingnews365 claims rb21 has now passed its crash tests
https://racingnews365.com/red-bull-achi ... tappen-car

[Eren Jager]

Am I the only one feeling extremely worried about the competitiveness of the RB21 in a month and a half?

We ended the season as the 3rd / even 4th best team, with several tenths behind the frontrunners. McLaren and Ferrari have decided to change their concepts entirely for 2025, developing brand new models despite their 2024 bases (MCL-38 and SF-24) being far superior to the RB20. From what I’ve read since the end of the season, we’ve decided to stick with the same foundation, focusing on what Waché called "the weaknesses we know exist."

I’m not sure if we fully realize it, but to have a shot at winning in Melbourne and competing for the championship at all, we not only need to fix the issues with the RB20 but also catch up the gap to the others...

Today, we learned that we’ve just passed the FIA crash tests, whereas Ferrari, for example, had already passed them back in late December. Then there’s Waché’s latest statement saying he’s not confident about next year and that the shadow of correlation issues (which we thought were resolved by the end of last season) still looms over the team. Am I overthinking this, or do you also feel like the 2025 season might just continue where last season left off fighting for top 6 and hoping for rain to give Max a shot at victory?

[lio007]

Am I the only one feeling extremely worried about the competitiveness of the RB21 in a month and a half?

We ended the season as the 3rd / even 4th best team, with several tenths behind the frontrunners. McLaren and Ferrari have decided to change their concepts entirely for 2025, developing brand new models despite their 2024 bases (MCL-38 and SF-24) being far superior to the RB20. From what I’ve read since the end of the season, we’ve decided to stick with the same foundation, focusing on what Waché called "the weaknesses we know exist."

I’m not sure if we fully realize it, but to have a shot at winning in Melbourne and competing for the championship at all, we not only need to fix the issues with the RB20 but also catch up the gap to the others...

Today, we learned that we’ve just passed the FIA crash tests, whereas Ferrari, for example, had already passed them back in late December. Then there’s Waché’s latest statement saying he’s not confident about next year and that the shadow of correlation issues (which we thought were resolved by the end of last season) still looms over the team. Am I overthinking this, or do you also feel like the 2025 season might just continue where last season left off fighting for top 6 and hoping for rain to give Max a shot at victory?

There have also been reports back in late December for Red Bull as well, that they have already passed crash tests. So I don't know how to interpret today's Racingnews365 report.

[Joel709]

Am I the only one feeling extremely worried about the competitiveness of the RB21 in a month and a half?

We ended the season as the 3rd / even 4th best team, with several tenths behind the frontrunners. McLaren and Ferrari have decided to change their concepts entirely for 2025, developing brand new models despite their 2024 bases (MCL-38 and SF-24) being far superior to the RB20. From what I’ve read since the end of the season, we’ve decided to stick with the same foundation, focusing on what Waché called "the weaknesses we know exist."

I’m not sure if we fully realize it, but to have a shot at winning in Melbourne and competing for the championship at all, we not only need to fix the issues with the RB20 but also catch up the gap to the others...

Today, we learned that we’ve just passed the FIA crash tests, whereas Ferrari, for example, had already passed them back in late December. Then there’s Waché’s latest statement saying he’s not confident about next year and that the shadow of correlation issues (which we thought were resolved by the end of last season) still looms over the team. Am I overthinking this, or do you also feel like the 2025 season might just continue where last season left off fighting for top 6 and hoping for rain to give Max a shot at victory?

There’s another way of looking at it. When the car was in its ideal working window than it was very competitive. Look at Brazil and Qatar where max won. While it wasn’t consistent, if the core problems with the car are solved and things like flexi front wing come into play then things can add up quite quickly.

Ultimately I suspect all top 4 teams will be very close in performance, I don’t see a single team being superior over a whole season, regardless of massive changes. We’re at a ceiling now.

[ispano6]

Yuki Tsunoda will be the reserve driver for Red Bull Racing in 2025. Ayumu Iwasa will be reserve driver for Racing Bulls. In what capacity/scenario will Yuki be driving the RB21 remains to be seen, but this is an interesting turn of events.

[FW17]

Am I the only one feeling extremely worried about the competitiveness of the RB21 in a month and a half?

We ended the season as the 3rd / even 4th best team, with several tenths behind the frontrunners. McLaren and Ferrari have decided to change their concepts entirely for 2025, developing brand new models despite their 2024 bases (MCL-38 and SF-24) being far superior to the RB20. From what I’ve read since the end of the season, we’ve decided to stick with the same foundation, focusing on what Waché called "the weaknesses we know exist."

I’m not sure if we fully realize it, but to have a shot at winning in Melbourne and competing for the championship at all, we not only need to fix the issues with the RB20 but also catch up the gap to the others...

Today, we learned that we’ve just passed the FIA crash tests, whereas Ferrari, for example, had already passed them back in late December. Then there’s Waché’s latest statement saying he’s not confident about next year and that the shadow of correlation issues (which we thought were resolved by the end of last season) still looms over the team. Am I overthinking this, or do you also feel like the 2025 season might just continue where last season left off fighting for top 6 and hoping for rain to give Max a shot at victory?

Oz has not been a great circuit for RBR.
- 2022 got blitzed by Ferrari
- 2023 was less dominant in qualifying than other races, Perez was nowhere. Russel had the race pace to stay in front.
- 2024 Ferrari were very close

[organic]

They're not confident for 2025 because confidence at this stage would be misplaced. There are 4 teams all roughly equally poised going into 2025

They can't say correlation issues are fixed because you're always fighting them in these regulations - they never simply go away. Additionally, the closer to the ceiling of these regs you are, the greater impact these correlation issues have as you're searching for smaller and smaller improvements which the error can more easily hide

I think the biggest reasons to be positive going into 2025 are that red bull still were reasonably competitive at some tracks at the end of 2024 despite all of their issues. And they have low hanging fruit to find gains that other teams don't necessarily have: large suspension issues and flexible wings which open new setup opportunities.

[organic]

Thomas Maher

Red Bull’s RB21 has passed crash tests and will be shaken down in Bahrain on 25th of February, using up first filming day of the year.

https://bsky.app/profile/thomasmaheronf ... v6saddr22b

Worth noting that red bull are likely to do a private shakedown of the rb21 at Silverstone prior to this date, using the 15km shakedown allowance.

[lio007]

Thomas Maher

Red Bull’s RB21 has passed crash tests and will be shaken down in Bahrain on 25th of February, using up first filming day of the year.

https://bsky.app/profile/thomasmaheronf ... v6saddr22b

Worth noting that red bull are likely to do a private shakedown of the rb21 at Silverstone prior to this date, using the 15km shakedown allowance.

Red Bull would be at least the third team to have a shakedown on the 25th in Bahrain, is that even possible?