Max Verstappen believes Red Bull has made a step with the RB21, saying it “can’t be worse” than the team’s 2024 Formula 1 challenger.
Despite picking up his fourth successive title and taking nine race victories, Verstappen and Red Bull were plagued by persistent balance issues with the RB20, specifically through a barren run of 10-winless races in the middle of the season.
The focus, then, has been for Red Bull to prepare a more compliant and predictable car for Verstappen to wield in 2025.
Speaking to select media including Motorsport Week on Thursday, halfway through F1 pre-season testing, Verstappen relayed Red Bull had made a positive step.
“Well, I mean, it can’t be worse than last year, so I think the direction that we’re working into is good, so we just need to follow that and see how much we can extract out of that,” he said.
“At the moment, it’s really early days, so a lot of things that we are still discussing and wanting to improve.”
Verstappen’s positivity based on limited running
Verstappen’s positivity was based on just four hours of running on the first day of pre-season testing with Liam Lawson given the whole day of running on Thursday.
From the limited running at the Bahrain International Circuit, Verstappen was able to glean some important characteristics of the RB21.
“I’ve done half a day, but I enjoyed the driving bit,” he said.
“The car was quite easy to drive. In terms of pace, it’s always difficult to say, but I enjoyed it.
“I guess that’s the most important part of it was it’s a bit more predictable.”
Still, Verstappen acknowledged that the RB20 performed admirably at Bahrain in 2024 (in fact, it went on to be the dominant winner of the Grand Prix).
“Around this time last year, also around here, it wasn’t that bad,” he said.
“But I do think that the team have learned a lot from last year. So now we’re just trying to address that from last year and see how it goes.
“When we go to Australia as well, it’ll be a different track. But so far, we’ve enjoyed it.”
Pressed to detail where the RB21 had improved over its predecessor, Verstappen played his cards close to his chest.
“Well, everywhere,” he remarked. “It’s just improved everywhere compared to last year.
“I don’t want to go too much into details. It’s not necessary. We can keep that for ourselves.”
READ MORE – Red Bull: Max Verstappen masked ‘balance issues with his talent’ in F1 2024
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