Red Bull has revealed that “all the plans are in place” for the areas the team intends to tweak on the RB21 to tackle the issues it has experienced in Formula 1 in 2024.
Red Bull was on course to cruise to another championship double when Max Verstappen won four of the opening five races in a similar dominant fashion to last term.
However, Red Bull heading down the wrong development route, coupled with McLaren’s resurgence, contributed to the squad’s competitive advantage being dispelled.
But while Verstappen’s brilliance has seen him preserve his points gap to be on the verge of the title, Red Bull has slumped to third in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Dutchman, who endured a 10-race winless run until his comeback in Brazil, divulged that Red Bull’s sharp decline had made it abandon previous planned updates.
Red Bull Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan, though, is adamant that the sudden switch in direction hasn’t altered the revisions it wishes to make to the RB20’s successor.
Asked whether Red Bull has a clear direction for 2025, Monaghan told media including Motorsport Week: “I could turn around to you and say yes, but I guarantee everybody will be nervous before the first test next year.
“So, it’s not as if we didn’t know, even at mid-season, what we want to try and achieve with next year’s car.
“And next year’s car is compounded by the difficulties of the 2026 car. So, yes, we know what we want to do. At the moment, all the plans are in place.”
However, Monaghan has admitted that the extent of the progress that Red Bull delivers over the winter will be unclear until it sees what the competition has managed.
“But again, it almost doesn’t matter, “he continued. “It’s what we do relative to our opposition.
“We know how much work we want to take on, what we want to try and achieve, and then we’ll see how much development work we need to put into it.
“We want to challenge next year’s championships, so it’s going to be quite a challenge on everybody within the skills of Red Bull Racing to achieve all our aims. But we’ll try.”
Red Bull not using testing time limit as an excuse
Red Bull has conceded that the reduced wind tunnel and CFD testing time that it has received compared to the rest has held a role in the team being caught up at last.
But Monaghan has stated that the reigning champions must avoid clinging to that as an excuse as additional time doesn’t guarantee an improvement in performance.
“Well, we’ve got slightly less than [the others],” he highlighted. “Ferrari and McLaren are quite close to us.
“If I then look at the difference down to, say, Haas or Williams, without being disrespectful to their performance to the middle of this season, they get a chunk more than us.
“It’s not necessarily about having just the time, it’s having the time and drawing something from it, which is part of the skill.
“So I can moan all I want; it’s not going to change the wind tunnel time and the CFD count that we get. That’s it.”
Red Bull would prioritise title over extra testing time
Monaghan has also expressed that he would choose to win the Constructors’ Championship again this campaign over the extra aero testing time for finishing in third.
“Personally, my pride would be dented more than anything else, I suspect,” he remarked.
“Yes, we get a slight increase, but I’d rather retain the Constructors’ Championship than look at the time. That’s up to us.”
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