A water leak halted Red Bull on the morning of the second day of testing in Bahrain. The reliability issue was quickly identified by the technical staff and repaired, allowing Liam Lawson to resume the test program in the afternoon.
So far, the RB21 has not impressed in terms of performance, but the Milton Keynes team is working to understand whether the car has corrected last year’s flaws, offering drivers a machine that is easier to handle and with a broader operating window than the RB20.
Pierre Waché, Red Bull’s technical director, has sacrificed a bit of performance in search of balance. The RB21’s Honda power unit cooling system has been completely redesigned. There is strong suspicion that last year, the Japanese suppliers limited engine performance to prevent reliability issues.
It became clear to everyone that having a separate cooling intake for each radiator could have been a brilliant solution, making the RB20 a modular car capable of being adapted to different circuit characteristics. However, the multi-stage system, with four separate cooling levels, did not yield great results, leading Red Bull to return to a more traditional solution. This also enabled better mass centralization, helping to achieve a well-balanced car.
The data collected so far has been positive, meaning the new underbody layout will be put to the test by Max Verstappen tomorrow on the final day of testing before the Australian GP in Melbourne, which will open the 2025 season.
Giorgio Piola’s image reveals that the RB21’s cooling system layout is entirely different from last year’s overly extreme design. The water radiator remains in the front section of the sidepods, while the turbo heat exchanger, previously placed at an angle beneath another component, has been moved further back. Meanwhile, the auxiliary radiators, which were housed in the “bazooka” section, appear to have been relocated above the Honda turbocharged V6—reverting to concepts that made the RB19 nearly unbeatable.
McLaren seems to be a step ahead of everyone, but the faces of Milton Keynes’ engineers remain calm, as if they are confident that their car meets expectations. Typically, Max Verstappen‘s team unveils the configuration for the first GP on the final day of testing—should we expect a last-minute surprise?
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