One of the cars that attracted the most attention ahead of these pre-season tests is the RB21, not so much for the technical updates made by the engineers on the latest creation from Milton Keynes, but for the fact that, visually, it looks very similar to last season’s car.
Although the classic play of light and shadow chosen by Red Bull to obscure the details had raised doubts about some elements, once seen on track, the RB21 does indeed closely resemble the shape of its predecessor. This might seem surprising, considering the balance issues in 2024, but in reality, this choice leaves the door open for other interpretations.
Speaking during the Team Principal press conference on the first day of testing in Bahrain, Christian Horner repeatedly emphasized not only the convergence in design among all teams, but also that the RB21 features more innovations than it might appear at first glance, since many of them are not… visible.
“I think that in this regulatory cycle, the cars have ended up converging and looking similar. Maybe Ferrari is the one that stands out and is most different, but it’s inevitable that now the gains are marginal,” said Red Bull’s Team Principal.
In this context, what Horner said could be one of the reasons why the RB21 visually resembles last year’s car, although the Englishman emphasized that, beyond these similarities, the car is different.
“Every part on our car is different from last year, it just looks similar because it’s the same philosophy. In general, all cars are converging, and that’s also why the grid will be very tight. Some cars may be better suited to certain circuits than others, so it’s up to us to extract the maximum from our package.”
Although the “upper” part of the car might visually seem very similar to last year’s, that doesn’t mean there aren’t important updates that are not visible to the naked eye, especially in the floor area under the car, the section that probably caused the most issues for the RB20 last year, as well as under the engine cover. It’s worth remembering, for example, that last year, the Milton Keynes team had relied on a very complex cooling system.
“I think we just need to improve some of the features of last year’s car, and the team has worked really hard on this aspect. Let’s not forget that last year we won nine races and four sprint races with that car, so we had a reasonable base to develop from,” Horner added.
The Team Principal wanted to mention two key details. Beyond appearances, every surface is different from last year’s car, which actually happens with every car, and he added that the most important updates are those that can’t be seen, in the details.
“Every surface on our car is different from last year’s, but it only looks similar because the philosophy is similar. And you can see that other cars have aligned with this philosophy. I think this car, while not looking visibly different from last year’s, is different in many areas, particularly in those that can’t be seen.”
Horner assured that there shouldn’t be any major changes for the first race, except for some specific small updates. What the Team Principal said could suggest that the team primarily focused not on particularly innovative solutions, but rather on solving the balance problems experienced last season, as well as the gaps in the aerodynamic map, making the car easier to understand and develop, one of the limits of 2024.
This is something that might particularly relate to the floor and its interaction with the mechanical part. Last year’s Qatar race showed how small changes, particularly in mechanical setups, could have a significant impact on the RB20’s performance, turning a very difficult car to drive and quite unpredictable into one that could compete for the win, even though Lusail was a favorable track.
In fact, the 2024 car had shown potential, but it was severely limited by several factors, such as the lack of correlation with the data from the wind tunnel and CFD, as well as the aerodynamic discrepancies in the map that caused balance issues and, in turn, led to the unpredictability in corners that the two drivers complained about for much of the season.
For Horner, this season will not be about big revolutions, but about incremental evolutions that will come throughout the championship: “This season will be about evolution, trying to get incremental performance, and it will be a race played out in development from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi.” – the Red Bull team boss concluded.
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