Red Bull name-drop two faster F1 2025 rivals

Red Bull have earmarked two F1 rivals the team believes they are currently lagging behind heading into the 2025 season.

Following a mixed three days of pre-season testing in which the team completed the least number of laps, Red Bull admitted the Bahrain test was “not as smooth” as they expected.

Neither Max Verstappen or teammate Liam Lawson were able to complete a full race distance in Red Bull’s new RB21 challenger, which looked a handful to drive at times.

And Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache reckons both McLaren and Ferrari head into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in better shape than his side.

"I think it will be tight," Wache told The Race. "At the moment it doesn't look like we are quick enough, but after we will see. It looks like McLaren and Ferrari are quicker."

After the opening day of running in Bahrain, Red Bull confidently stated that the RB21 offered positive signs that the team had fixed the issues which dogged their 2024 car.

But Wache says Red Bull still have work to do to get the RB21 into a sweet spot.

"We have some feedback that is as we expect, in terms of how the car reacts and in terms of balance. There are more flatter characteristics than the peakiness [from last year],” he explained.

"But I think we still have work to do on how to use the potential of it. It is difficult to rebalance the car currently, but we are exploring different solutions.

"The first day was OK. [The second day], we didn't find a sweet spot. And we also had some issues. So it is difficult to say in terms of competitiveness at the moment.”

Just how different is Red Bull’s new F1 car?

Despite being similar to its predecessor, the RB20, in appearance, Red Bull’s 2025 car has notably different characteristics, Wache stressed.

“To be competitive, you have to extract the potential of it at one point in terms of how you use it,” he said.

"What it [the changes for 2025] gives us is a little bit more option to rebalance it. It is taking more time to understand what is your best option, and I think that is the process we are in at the moment.

"I think it's more different than what we saw between RB19 and RB20 in terms of characteristic. After the end of the season of the RB19, there was an evolution. The shape [of the RB20] was massively different, but it was the same concept type.

"Now, clearly, the way we extract the speed, the characteristic of the car, is quite different.”