Max Verstappen remains calm despite aero issues, trusting Red Bull’s long-term vision with a new wind tunnel coming in 2026.
Red Bull Racing has openly pointed fingers at its aging wind tunnel as a major reason behind the current struggles with the RB21. Team boss Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko both admit that the facility is no longer cutting-edge, limiting the team’s ability to make fine-tuned performance gains.
To fix that, Red Bull is building a state-of-the-art wind tunnel, scheduled to be operational in 2026. It’s expected to play a key role in the development of the 2027 car.
But does Max Verstappen fully agree that the wind tunnel is to blame?
“Of course, we’re not entirely happy with where we are, and yes, a new wind tunnel is coming—that takes time,” Verstappen said. “But this isn’t a new problem. Even in 2023, we noticed that certain things simply don’t show up in the wind tunnel.”
Still, the reigning champion trusts his team’s expertise.
“The team knows what it’s doing. It understands where to focus. The only issue is that our current setup can’t quite capture the smaller, more detailed elements.”
He also reminded everyone that the same facility delivered strong results before.
“It worked in 2022 and 2023, and even in 2021 under completely different rules. So I wouldn’t say all our issues are down to the wind tunnel.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Verstappen doesn’t seem too bothered by the fact the new tunnel won’t be ready in time for the next big regulation change.
“Well, that’s going to be a completely different car anyway, so you can’t really compare,” he said. “Another team could suddenly nail it. Our tunnel is still good—it just lacks a bit of precision. But for a first year under new rules, it should be more than capable of helping us shape the initial concepts.”
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Verstappen Admits Wind Tunnel Flaws, But Stresses It’s Not the Full Picture Verstappen Admits Wind Tunnel Flaws, But Stresses It’s Not the Full Picture
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