Racing Bulls is reportedly set to incorporate several elements of last season’s Red Bull RB20 into its 2025 Formula 1 car.
Red Bull and Racing Bulls both had strong starts to the 2024 F1 campaign compared to their respective goals.
The senior squad won seven of the first 10 races whilst Racing Bulls stood in a strong sixth amid a tight midfield battle in the Constructors’ standings.
Both encountered mid-season development issues before making amends during the final few rounds, with Racing Bulls aided by incorporating the RB20 rear suspension and gearbox for the last three races of the season, as permitted by the regulations.
In 2025, Racing Bulls will continue employing Red Bull design cues and parts, according to a report by the Italian publication AutoRacer.
The VCARB02 will incorporate the rear suspension, gearbox and ‘shark-mouth sidepods’ from the RB20 and according to AutoRacer “will have the now famous inverted L-shaped cooling inlet, with a horizontal and a vertical intake connected only internally.
“This is the same design used by their ‘big’ sister Red Bull in 2024,” adds the Italian publication.
Racing Bulls will debut its 2025 creation with a filming day at Imola on February 17 and drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar will get the chance to shakedown the VCARB02 at the iconic Italian venue.
Debating Racing Bulls’ design philosophy
Racing Bulls has a new aerodynamics department adjacent to Red Bull in Milton Keynes and amid its rebrand from AlphaTauri in 2024, a commitment was made to tighten the technical partnership between the two.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week last term, Racing Bulls Team Principal Laurent Mekies revealed that the Red Bull ownership wanted the sister outfit to exploit the rules to the maximum regarding technical collaboration.
“[Red Bull’s owners said] ‘there are very, very clear regulations, can we please have a look at it and think about the two teams as being owned by one entity, you are competing one against the other, but at least where regulations allow, can we have a look at if it makes sense to do everything that the regulations are allowing us to do’, which was not always the case before,” Mekies explained.
This philosophy has drawn criticism, particularly from McLaren CEO Zak Brown who has made repetitive calls for all 10 F1 teams to be independent.
But as Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer pointed out to PlanetF1, the Faenza-based outfit isn’t doing anything different compared to some of its rivals.
“I know for certain that Ferrari and Haas work closer than Red Bull Racing and us,” said Bayer.
“I understand that it’s a cutthroat competition. Everybody’s trying to throw stones into the path of the other one.
“But, if you just look, take a step back and listen to our drivers and the engineers – listen to the feedback. You will hear that our car, it’s a different car. It’s simply not a copy. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be where we are in the first place.”
READ MORE – Racing Bulls boss counters criticism of using Red Bull components
