Red Bull Predicts Nerves Across F1 as 2025 Test Approaches

Paul Monaghan predicts widespread nerves among F1 teams ahead of the 2025 season, as focus shifts to the upcoming 2026 era.

Red Bull Racing’s Chief Engineer, Paul Monaghan, explained why he is certain that all F1 teams will be “nervous” ahead of the first test of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Max Verstappen has just secured his fourth world championship title in F1, but Red Bull has a lot of work ahead in the final two races if it hopes to extend its streak as Constructors’ Champion. It is even unlikely that they will succeed, and under current circumstances, they could be eliminated from the title fight in Qatar, with a final showdown between McLaren F1 and Ferrari in Abu Dhabi.

There will be no updates for the RB20: Red Bull is already fully focused on the 2025 car.

Monaghan shares that the team has already thoroughly considered the changes to be made compared to the current RB20.

“I guarantee you that everyone will be nervous before next year’s first test.”

“It’s not as if we didn’t know, even halfway through the season, what we wanted to try to achieve with next year’s car. And the development of next year’s car will be heavily constrained by the studies required for the 2026 car. It will be the same for everyone: nervousness, hoping for a solid foundation to approach 2025.”

“On our side, we know what we want to do. At the moment, all plans are in place.”

Monaghan will closely observe the actions of rival teams to see which development strategies between 2025 and 2026 they will adopt.

“That’s what we are already doing with regard to our competitors, but next year will be crucial because there will be a significant shift into a new era.”

“We know how much work we want to do on each F1 car, what we want to try to achieve, and then we’ll see how much development work will be required. We want to fight for championships next year, so it will be a real challenge for everyone at Red Bull Racing to meet all our objectives: to win in 2025 and to be competitive from the start in 2026. But we will try.”