Red Bull's 2025 F1 Car Goes Through Mandatory Test Ahead Of February Launch
![May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Crew members push the car of Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) back to the paddock after the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Crew members push the car of Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) back to the paddock after the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_5046,h_2838,x_0,y_189/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/f1briefings/01jjpnqkmmbscp7xe9f2.jpg)
Red Bull's 2025 challenger, the RB21, has cleared the mandatory FIA crash test, ahead of its official unveiling at the highly anticipated 2025 season launch at London's iconic O2 Arena on February 18. Although the test is a mere formality, considering there won't be major structural changes from the previous car, it is still an important check to pass through.
As part of the sport's regulations, the FIA mandates static and dynamic crash tests to be carried out before any machine is declared race-ready. A report confirms that Red Bull has cleared the crash test, which takes it one step closer to being ready for the pre-season test in Bahrain from February 26-28.
The RB21 is the team's first car to be developed without the inputs of its outgoing chief technical officer and aero guru Adrian Newey, known for his season-dominating car designs, especially in the current ground effect era. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner clarified after the 2024 season that Newey's role has been split among other team members and expressed confidence that his team would do a good job of it. 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."
Following a challenging 2024 season for the Milton Keynes outfit, which suffered from internal conflicts and balance problems on the RB20 F1 car, Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache admitted that it has been challenging to extract more performance from the 2025 car but acknowledged that the car will be faster on select Grand Prix circuits. He said:
"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."