The Red Bull Racing team is readying themselves for an exciting 2025 racing season by implementing a number of changes to their Formula 1 car, the RB21.
Their primary focus is to improve the car's "wider operating window" to ensure it performs consistently well on all tracks.
Rather than chasing ultimate performance, they aim to reduce the car's sensitivity to adjustments, giving drivers a more manageable driving experience.
In 2024, Red Bull faced a number of challenges with the RB20 car. It had severe balance issues, which greatly impacted performance.
The car's sensitivity to setup changes further complicated their season.
Max Verstappen managed to adapt better to these issues, while his teammate Sergio Perez struggled, leading to his departure from the team after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Team principal Christian Horner said the following:
"We've got a good understanding of where things weren't [as strong].
"I would say around Imola we introduced an upgrade that made the car far more peaky in its performance and it became a very narrow operating window.
"When you got into that window, like the four laps in Austria that were good enough for pole, it was very much in that window, but if you stepped a millimetre either side, it became a problematic car to drive.
"Max was able to mask it and drive around it, and that's where Checo particularly this year [struggled].
"The engineers have been very focused on how you broaden that window, not necessarily adding ultimate performance, but just broadening the window so we're across the different challenges and have a much wider operating window."
Looking ahead to 2025, Red Bull is set on developing a car that remains balanced regardless of the track conditions.
This is crucial for securing Verstappen's fifth championship title, making this a triumphant end to Red Bull's era before the new F1 regulations in 2026 come into effect.
The problems plagued them in 2024, but this has provided a roadmap for their upcoming season's improvements.
Helmut Marko, Red Bull consultant, said the following:
"We know what to do.
"This car needs a wider working window, so that it doesn't immediately become unbalanced when there are slight temperature fluctuations or minor technical changes.
"That's exactly what our engineers are working on. Forty points of downforce is good, but four tenths on the stopwatch is what interests me and the drivers.
The handling must be predictable for the driver so that he can build up the necessary confidence."
