Red Bull Reveals Bad News On 2025 RB21 F1 Car - A First Without Adrian Newey

Saajan Jogia | Dec 29, 2024

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Crewmembers push the car of Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez (11) on the grid before the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache has admitted that the team is finding it difficult to extract more performance from the 2025 title contender RB21 F1 car, which marks Red Bull's first car without the input of legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey, who departed the team early this year.

Newey's car design was responsible for Red Bull's dominance in the ground effect era from 2022. One of his most iconic creations, the RB19, delivered a near-flawless 2023 season with Red Bull securing 21 wins out of 22 races. Coincidentally, the team's struggles with the 2024 car, the RB20, began weeks after Newey announced his exit as the team's chief technical officer. He is set to join Aston Martin in March 2025 as a managing technical partner and shareholder, carrying his expertise to a team that has struggled to adapt to the challenges of the ground effect era.

Red Bull soon faced balance issues with its car in the second half of the season, securing only nine race wins and losing the Constructors' Championship to McLaren. Though Wache acknowledged that the RB21 will be fast on selected race tracks, he claimed that it will be difficult to find more performance. He told RacingNews365:

"For sure there will be some development and at some tracks, we will be quicker, but it is very, very difficult to find [performance].

"I don't know if you discussed with the others, but for us, it is [going to be] difficult. 

"Looking at the visible aspect of the car, everybody has the same type of concept we did in 2022, with wider body work at the rear, but it is more about where you develop underneath the car, but we are here to do a job and to develop the car as the best we can.

"It is very frustrating for us when we don't win and everybody in the paddock has the same vision."

Hinting when the work began on the RB21, Wache added:

"You have to define your main structure, what you are doing with the aero surface in the middle of the year.

"You have no choice as due to production design, even if we are quick, it takes a long time."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recently revealed that the RB21 will be unveiled toward the end of January. Admitting that he has full confidence that his team would do a good job without Newey's input, he said:

“This is the first time that Adrian [Newey] will have had absolutely no input into the car.

“That’s for the team to step up to that challenge.

“I’m confident they can do that. They've got strength and depth and we’ll see what the RB21 looks like when it's unveiled at the end of January.”