F1 | Spanish GP – Red Bull responds to new technical directive with revised front wing for RB21. Red Bull hits the track for the Spanish GP weekend with a new front wing.

Red Bull hits the track for the Spanish GP weekend with a new front wing aimed at countering the technical directive.

The Milton Keynes-based team, like the other nine on the grid, had to introduce a new front wing specification to comply with TD18, which limits wing flexing. This new design, introduced by Red Bull for the Spanish Grand Prix, focuses on increasing the outwash effect of airflow hitting the front wing.

The much-anticipated Spanish GP has arrived, bringing with it a new technical directive that could reshuffle the pecking order for the 2025 F1 World Championship. The FIA’s decision aims to reduce flex in front-end components and clamp down on the “flexi-wing” phenomenon—a move that sparked anger among several teams earlier in the season, including Red Bull.

Realising there was no way around it—just like the other teams—Red Bull developed a new front wing designed to meet the updated flexibility requirements, which are now tested with revised templates during technical scrutineering. We covered the implications of these changes in detail in this article explaining how teams will be affected.

The new front wing fitted to the RB21 features both visible and subtle changes. Most notably, there is a new linkage structure between the flaps and the endplate. Here, the third and fourth elements feature a much more pronounced “curl” to promote outwash. This modification is essential for improving the car’s efficiency, since reduced front wing flex limits the car’s ability to cut through the air. With this change, Red Bull also aims to enhance other performance areas, including cleaning up the wake from the front wheels and strengthening the vortex generated by the floor edge wing to better seal the floor.

Red Bull will need to closely monitor the wing’s flex at the trailing edge, as the vortex strength could cause the wing to bend significantly. A reference marker has been added to help track lateral wing flex under load. This type of movement was already hypothesised last season when McLaren introduced a similarly curled wing design. That modification ultimately led McLaren to substantial gains in aerodynamic efficiency.