F1 Insider Predicts What Went Wrong at Red Bull Amid Water Pressure Issue

Alex Harrington | Feb 27, 2025

A detailed view of the sidepods of the Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 during the Oracle Red Bull Racing Filming Day at Bahrain International Circuit on February 25, 2025 in Bahrain, Bahrain. / Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

During today's F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, Red Bull faced a cooling system issue with Liam Lawson's RB21. Suspected to be related to water pressure, it has ties to the new cooling system that is predicted to be installed in the Milton Keynes machinery. F1 technology expert Sam Collins shared his thoughts on Sky Sports' coverage, revealing that it's likely this is where the issue stemmed from.

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This comes after a challenging 2024 season where Red Bull, despite winning several races and their driver Max Verstappen took his fourth consecutive world championship win, lost the constructors' championship to McLaren. With Lawson stepping into a full-time seat alongside the reigning champ and the team striving for a broader operating window, Red Bull's approach in 2025 has seen many changes.

After losing the constructors’ title to McLaren despite winning more races, Red Bull is now focused on addressing its inconsistent handling

The cooling system's potential new design has raised some eyebrows. Specifically, Collins brought up subtle differences in the RB21's appearance compared to the previous year's model. According to the pundit, Red Bull's new design likely includes a repositioned cooling system with new radiators and heat exchangers. These adjustments, however, might be causing the suspected water pressure issue.  

"I have been spending a lot of time staring at a lot of photos of the Red Bull. At the end of [Wednesday] I felt like they didn’t understand the car. If someone came to me and said ‘that’s the car they raced at the end of last year’, I would struggle to disagree. However, I have heard on the grapevine that the issue Red Bull faced earlier on was a water pressure issue," Collins stated via the Sky Sports F1 feed.  

From the outside, the RB21's design appears largely unchanged—at least to those without Adrian Newey’s keen eye. But Christian Horner and his team are adamant that the majority of the car's surfaces have been modified.

Yet, the supposed bug emerges not from the car's external appearance but underneath—the cooling system's overhaul is potentially to blame. If there's a design flaw or even an error with how it's been bolted together, pre-season testing is designed to reveal such problems.  

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"I have seen some photos. Unfortunately I can’t share them with you. But the photos I’ve seen make it clear what’s different about this year’s Red Bull. While it looks really similar, on the skin, Christian Horner says it’s 99% new and every surface is different. That’s absolutely right—the more you look at the photos, the more you see the little differences on the car."  

He continued: "Every shape is slightly different. A producer yesterday pointed out the angle of the front wing endplates is slightly more inward-facing, they point toward the nose more than they did in Abu Dhabi last year. The concept is the same—the pull rod front suspension, the push rod rear. That’s a concept that is moving toward being universal for this generation of cars. Unless you speak Italian and you live in Maranello where they chose to do something different. 

"Even Mercedes would have evolved towards that concept if these rules stayed in place longer. Everybody copied Red Bull’s sidepod concept. You can see the protruding upper edge, the vertical cooling slot, the horizontal cooling slot. That’s a pure Red Bull design."  

Testing is the stage to detect issues like this. Yet, the issue could suggest something isn't designed right, whether it's a design misstep, a manufacturing flaw, or simply an issue with assembly. Sam Collins speculates:

"But where the big differences are with the Red Bull are underneath the bodywork. The water pressure is, I think, relates to the fact that they are running a completely new cooling system on the car. They have moved the radiators and heat exchanges around. On the sidepods is a distinctive horizontal V-shape which I first saw on Ferrari-powered cars in 2016."  

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This cooling system update hints at potential flaws.

"That concept has carried through to this Red Bull after many years of not really being present in Formula 1. So the water pressure issue, with a new cooling system, probably suggests something might not be designed right, or maybe a bit of pipework is chafing, or it’s not as well manufactured as it should be.

"Or could it be the age-old problem of finger trouble, where somebody hasn’t bolted something on as tightly as they should have. That’s why you go testing - to find these problems."  

The squad must now divide their attention between resolving any potential current issues and preemptively planning for the 2026 regulation change.

"But the car concept itself looks similar to last year. The aerodynamic brain power of Red Bull would have been dedicated to this car until January 2. They were not allowed to work on the 2026 car until that date. After that date? I don’t know how much goes into next year’s Red Bull, and how much goes into this year’s Red Bull and its cooling system," Collins concluded.