Red Bull has quashed speculation that it could be poised to introduce some sizeable modifications to the RB21 on the final day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.
The Austrian squad delivered a surprise when it unveiled a 2025 car that is near-identical to the RB20 predecessor that it experienced complications with last season.
Red Bull dominated the nascent rounds in the previous campaign, but mid-season updates induced balance problems which made the car more troublesome to handle.
That triggered speculation that Red Bull harboured a plan to bolt on more noticeable upgrades that would transcend the RB21’s appearance compared to its initial outings.
But while the team will have some minor revisions that Max Verstappen will sample, Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache has denied those changes will be extreme.
“No, it will not be radically different,” he told PlanetF1.com. “We will evaluate parts. It’s true that, based on the calendar and everything, but I think everybody’s doing the same.
“Nothing has changed compared to previous years. You have your baseline car, and you try to have some stuff from the full system of development to come to the track as soon as possible and, based on the capacity of manufacturing the part and everything.
“You try to evaluate before race one. I think we have some new parts coming for day three, but it is not massively different.
“For sure, everybody’s doing this, you have some small parts to evaluate.
“It was planned for race one, but we try to push it a little bit for day three here because it gives us a possibility to see whether the direction is correct or not, but it’s not magic.”
Red Bull will have similar car in Australia
Wache admission echoed Christian Horner’s assessment as the Red Bull boss stated that the car in testing will be similar to the one that races in the opening round in Australia.
“It’s basically the car that we will start the season with,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“There may be some subtle changes introduced between now and then, but fundamentally, it’s what will be taken to Melbourne.”
Red Bull not at performance ‘ceiling’ with current rules
Red Bull has been consistent in vowing that the squad’s ambition with the RB21 is to equip the drivers with a car that has a wider operating window and is more predictable.
But with the team also chasing marginal gains under the current rules, Wache has admitted that ensuring the drivers are able to unlock that potential is the big challenge.
Asked how much headroom is available in the last campaign with the contemporary ground effect regulations, Wache responded: “I don’t know the ceiling.
“I know that it is difficult to find performance.
“It’s very difficult if you stay in the regulation box. It’s the nature of the regulation, every type of regulation, that after two or three years, you start to be more on the plateau and it’s more difficult in the real world and developments start to be less and, after that, it’s based on risk.
“Us, I’m not sure we are at the ceiling. We can find more potential, maybe… it’s more where you find it.
“If it’s not usable by the driver, it’s a big issue. What we can find in terms of performance, and maybe not the ceiling, is how we can develop the car so that the driver can.”
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