Red Bull Racing has unveiled their 2025 livery at the F1 75 event in London on Tuesday evening as they look to regain the Constructors’ Championship with the RB21.
In 2023, Red Bull Racing dominated F1. They won both the World Drivers’ Championship and the Constructors’ Championship by a landslide, with reigning champion Max Verstappen leaving 19 out of 22 races victoriously. The Milton Keynes outfit entered the 2024 seasons with high hopes and even higher expectations.
Red Bull’s fall from glory
2024 was expected to be another dominant season for Red Bull. That was proven wrong from Miami when McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed his maiden win. Since then, we witnessed the Woking outfit’s rise, and a decline of the reigning champions on the Constructors’ side.
While Red Bull had the upper hand for the past 2 seasons, in 2024 McLaren caught and surpassed them. The RB20 could never live up to its predecessor the RB19 in terms of performance.
Early-season, the RB20 seemed to have potential to retain the team’s dominance. Max Verstappen would go on to win 7 out of the first 10 races of the season. However, it was clear that the upgrades Red Bull were bringing to the car were no’lt working as well as they had planned.
Verstappen had been public with his complaints about the RB20 on the radio and even during his media duties. That paired with their cost cap and resource implications, it definitely was a difficult season.
Nonetheless, some outstanding performances from the 27-year-old led to a fourth straight Drivers’ Championship.
Pulling your weight
While Red Bull had two drivers just like any other team, Red Bull only had one driver collecting points in their championship for the majority of the season.
Sergio Pérez’s sudden slump in performance was definitely one of the leading factors that lost Red Bull their placing in the Constructors to both McLaren and Ferrari.
With the beast of the RB19, Pérez found himself right behind Verstappen in the championship standings in the 2023 season, although the gap was enormous. The Mexican even won 2 races and was a frequent podium finisher. A far cry from his 2024 performance.
Pérez’s performance slumped following the Miami Grand Prix, by the end of the season, he only scored a total of 49 points since April. In the 7 months after Miami, the Mexican had 6 Q1s disqualifications and zero podium appearances. He was 283 points behind his teammate in the championship after the final chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.
Moving forward
Red Bull enters the 2025 season with a new line up. Reigning champion Max Verstappen will be racing alongside former Racing Bull driver Liam Lawson. The New Zealander was brought into the sister team after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix to replace Daniel Ricciardo.
Despite having driven in Formula One for 2 seasons, Lawson has never done a full campaign. It will be interesting to see his first full-time season in a top team. How he will fare driving against now 4 time World Champion Max Verstappen?
The RB21 will also be the first car that Adrian Newey won’t have a hand in making since 2005. The legendary designer has designed cars that brought many victories to the team. Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have both won 4 World Driver Championships with cars designed by Newey.
It will be fascinating to see how the new RB21 performs as Pierre Waché leads the way.
