Red Bull has deeply reworked the RB21, refining every concept to enhance performance, as Pierre Waché explains the team’s extensive development efforts.
Pierre Waché has further explained how Red Bull worked on its 2025 RB21 to correct the flaws of last year’s RB20. He outlines why significant changes were made beneath the bodywork, while the exterior has evolved only slightly.
“We have reassessed all the car’s concepts. There have been many small modifications, particularly under the bodywork. But it’s clear that everyone has continued with their 2024 concept. Ferrari may have gone further than others in making changes,” Waché stated.
“Visually, the RB21 looks very similar to the RB20, but a lot has changed in terms of cooling, suspension, and the aero package. Everything has been altered to achieve the characteristics we prefer.”
The team’s technical director explained what needed to be corrected as a priority: “We had a car that was very difficult to exploit. To be competitive, you have to extract its potential at some point in terms of usability and reduce how sharp the car feels.”
“The changes for 2025 give us a few more options. It takes longer to understand which is the best one, and I think that’s the process we are in right now. It’s not as simple as it seems because this characteristic means that the peak of downforce isn’t in just one dimension.”
“It’s a multidimensional system that isn’t limited to downforce but also involves suspension, kinematic effects, the car’s overall characteristics, and the driver’s feeling.”
“But fundamentally, that’s exactly it—reducing the car’s overall grip potential and capability to make it more balanced. That’s what we are seeing now. Last year, we had a rather difficult car, and to rebalance it, you ended up in a dead end in terms of possibilities.”
Waché: The RB21 offers more flexibility and a deeper evolution than the RB20
“Today, it gives us a wider range of settings that we need to explore. It will take time to find the best compromise, which could vary significantly from one circuit to another, as it provides us with much more freedom.”
Waché explains that the RB21 represents a deeper evolution of the RB20 than its B-spec version did at the end of last season. He also notes that the RB21 has gained around three to four tenths compared to its pace in Abu Dhabi 2024.
“I would say that last year, we applied a patch. A patch to slightly reduce the potential but broaden it. But it was a small patch. Now, the entire car concept has been designed in this direction.”
Last year, correlation issues complicated Red Bull’s development of the RB20, and the Frenchman is unsure if those have been fully resolved: “I am not confident. But at some point, you have to use the tools at your disposal and gather as much information as possible to make a decision.”
“We still have—and I think everyone has—not a correlation issue, but you need to extrapolate what will happen with your tools on the track. That is part of the engineering work we do.”
“I don’t think confidence is at 100%, but it is not a roadblock. You have to use what you know, what you control, and ensure that the extrapolation works as well as possible while improving how you work with your tools.”
- Discover More>Racing Bulls Face Tougher Battle for Points in 2025
- Follow us on >Facebook and >Twitter for F1 updates
RB21 Revamp: Waché Details Red Bull’s Major Design Rethink RB21 Revamp: Waché Details Red Bull’s Major Design Rethink RB21 Revamp: Waché Details Red Bull’s Major Design Rethink
