Christian Horner states that there will be no major innovations in the RB21, the car for 2025, and that it will be an evolution of the current vehicle.
As the Milton Keynes-based team is in a tight championship battle with McLaren, they are aware that if they do not achieve solid gains this winter, they may face an even tougher season next year. However, the budget cap and the new rule period starting in 2026 prevent Red Bull from making radical changes to their car.
Team principal Christian Horner commented, “You can’t make too many predictions about the future in this business.” He added, “In F1, the long term is about two and a half months, and basically, what we’ve learned this year relates to next year.”
“The car for next year will be an evolution of this year’s car because, due to the budget cap, it doesn’t make sense to completely overhaul the car unless there is a significant performance increase.”
Starting in the 2026 season, Red Bull will run its own engine for the first time, and they have decided not to make major changes to next year’s car.
Red Bull has made significant investments in its new Red Bull Powertrains division, believing it will yield returns despite high costs. Horner stated, “This is by far our biggest challenge.” He elaborated, “We’ve established a new business, built a factory, initiated the process, and brought together 600 people to work at Red Bull.” He also noted, “We have a major partner like Ford Motor Company, and this relationship is working very well.”
“Of course, things may go wrong in the short term, and that’s completely normal, but having everything under one roof with the engineers has long-term benefits. We are already seeing the advantages of having chassis and engine engineers working side by side in integrating the 2026 engine into the car,” he added.
Wind Tunnel Factor
As Red Bull investigated factors hindering the progress of the current RB20, several issues related to wind tunnel correlation emerged.
The team has been operating at the same facility since entering F1 in 2005. While work has begun on a state-of-the-art new facility at the Milton Keynes site, it is not expected to be operational before 2026.
Horner mentioned, “We have a wind tunnel that is 60 years old. It’s a facility from the Cold War era, and we knew it had its limitations.” He acknowledged, “This wind tunnel has helped us produce great cars over the years. However, when we started really pushing the aerodynamics of the cars, the limitations began to show.”
“There was a point where wind tunnels could be banned,” he continued. “There was a debate about whether this would happen and if CFD could surpass it. Adrian postponed work on a new wind tunnel until there was clarity on this issue. However, afterwards, the FIA changed its stance on the matter.”
