The 2024 season was one of the most fiercely fought F1 seasons for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. In the end, Verstappen retained his title at the Las Vegas GP, with two races to spare. But Red Bull lost their grip on the Constructors’ title to McLaren at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.
Red Bull technician Calum Nicholas revealed on the Road to Success podcast that the team were clueless about the performance of the RB20, which was plagued with balance issues for most of last season. He even compared their problems to Mercedes, who themselves were not able to get on top of their issues with the W15.
“At the end of 2024 and even by midway through the 2024 season, we genuinely didn’t understand some bits,” he began. “Honestly, it was a little bit like that at times. Everybody just worked and tried to claw back this understanding,” added Nicholas.
candid shot of max looking at the data & tracking down the problem with the rb20 himself pic.twitter.com/xy87yPozqP
— ☆ ☆ MAP ☆ ☆ (@simplylovelymap) September 1, 2024
Nicholas revealed that at times, the team were not even sure if the car would behave in a predictable manner when it rolled out of the garage session after session. This was a starkly different feeling within the team compared to the early part of the season where they dominated the grid.
The RB20 had started life at the Bahrain GP where the all-conquering RB19 had left off in 2023 at Abu Dhabi. Verstappen picked up seven wins in the first 10 races. But from the Austrian GP onwards, things went from bad to worse. The last 14 rounds saw the Dutchman only win twice.
Has Red Bull rectified the RB20’s design flaws on the RB21?
Despite a poor run of results in the second half of the 2024 season, based on the high standards that Verstappen has set for himself and the team, he was only able to retain his world title by banking on the cushion of points he had racked up in the first half of the season. But going into 2025, the #1 driver will most likely not have the luxury of early season wins.
This is because, throughout the latter half of the 2024 season, Red Bull were unable to develop their car. On the other hand, McLaren and Ferrari overtook them in performance and will go into the 2025 season on the front foot.
Moreover, Red Bull have announced that the 2025-spec RB21 will be an evolution of the RB20, meaning that the gremlins of the RB20 will most likely carry over if the team can’t get on top of it. But team advisor Helmut Marko claims that Red Bull has figured a way out to eliminate some of the issues that plagued the RB20 the most.
One of the major issues for the team was the car’s performance on bumps and kerbs. Marko revealed that the team’s wind tunnel data on the RB21 shows that the team have finally resolved that issue. If true, this could be a massive advantage for Verstappen who will be keen to defend his crown from the likes of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
