Key Red Bull figure drops first hints about new RB21 car

Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache believes the 2025 RB21 F1 machine will not be revolutionary in the team's first post-Adrian Newey design.

Chief technical officer Newey quit mid-way through 2024, placing Wache even further in the heart of designing the RB21, the car Max Verstappen hopes will guide him to a fifth world drivers' title.

However, the RB20 suffered an alarming dip in form in 2024, with Verstappen's seven wins from the first 10 races being enough to effectively seal the title early as he racked up big points whilst rivals floundered - and took inspiration from Red Bull's class-leading designs.

Finding even more raw performance in the final year of the regulations is some Wache concedes will be tricky.

"For sure there will be some development and at some tracks, we will be quicker, but it is very, very difficult to find [performance]," Wache exclusively told RacingNews365. 

"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."

When pushed on when Red Bull started to design the RB21 in earnest, Wache detailed how the process began.

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

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