Formula 1 News: Red Bull admits new and old cars 'very similar'

(GMM) Christian Horner openly admits Red Bull’s 2025 F1 car is “visually very similar” to its predecessor.

On Tuesday, the team revealed dimly-lit photos of the ‘new’ car just as Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson were preparing for their filming day in Bahrain ahead of official testing.

Insiders noted that the RB21 is visually almost identical to the 2024 car.

Can You Spot Any Differences?

#30 Liam Lawson at the wheel of the Red Bull RB21 at the Bahrain International Circuit on February 25, 2025. Photo supplied by Oracle Red Bull Racing

Pole man Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme during the Qatar GP at Losail International Circuit on Saturday November 30, 2024 in Losail, Qatar. (Photo by Dom Romney / LAT Images) — Pole man Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme during the Qatar GP at Losail International Circuit on Saturday November 30, 2024 in Losail, Qatar. (Photo by Dom Romney / LAT Images)

“The devil is in the detail,” team boss Horner insisted.

However, according to a trusted engineer on X, Dr Obbs, the final race-spec version of the RB21 will debut at the season’s first Grand Prix in Australia. Citing insider sources, he stated that Red Bull plans to reveal the fully developed RB21 in Melbourne on March 14, while the version currently running in Bahrain is a test-spec model.

Amid the internal turmoil at Red Bull last year, Adrian Newey decided to leave the team to switch to Aston Martin, where he starts work on March 3.

“I don’t think about it too much,” reigning champion Verstappen said when told that the 2025 car is the first Red Bull in many years not designed by Newey.

“He’s not here anymore – that’s how things are. I have a lot of respect for what Adrian did for Red Bull, I have a great relationship with him, and I am happy for him to start a new project,” the Dutchman is quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

After a “few laps” in the new car on Tuesday, Verstappen reported that he “felt comfortable”.

“We know in which areas our Red Bull RB20 didn’t look good in 2024, and we have been working on that. Once we start pushing a little harder, we will quickly understand whether it has paid off,” he added.

The quadruple consecutive drivers’ title winner reports that he therefore hasn’t set “any goals” for the 2025 season.

He has a new teammate in the form of Liam Lawson, who according to Dr Helmut Marko is tasked with being a better support for Verstappen than was Sergio Perez.

“Liam’s job is pretty clear,” said team boss Horner. “He’s there to try and help as much as possible. There aren’t many expectations for him to go out on track and beat a four-time world champion.

“If he beats him, fantastic, there’s no one here telling him he can’t do that. But it’s just about taking the pressure off him.”

Horner seems to agree that Verstappen, 27, is perhaps not heading into the final season of the current regulations as the favorite.

“Sometimes it’s nice not to be the favorites,” he said. “It puts the pressure on others, so I’d be quite happy to see Lando (Norris) go into the first race as the favorite. But it doesn’t mean much until we’re on track.

“And even when we are, Albert Park is a pretty unique circuit.”

Finally, Horner’s nemesis Toto Wolff used the occasion of the debut of the 2025 Red Bull to aim a jibe at the team boss.

When asked about Verstappen and Horner being booed at the O2 arena recently, the Mercedes boss responded: “I don’t think Max was booed.

“We shouldn’t belittle an event that was great just because one person, rightly or wrongly, was booed when he spoke.”

Asked jokingly if Wolff was among those booing Horner, the Austrian grinned: “There were 15,000 people doing it, so there was no need for me to do it too.”