Max Verstappen dropped an appearance in the media room ahead of Day 2 of the 2025 Pre-season test in Bahrain but did not get behind the wheel of the RB21. Red Bull’s Technical Director, Pierre Wache, revealed the reason behind the Dutchman’s absence on track.
With Liam Lawson transitioning into a full-time F1 seat with the Bulls, the team wanted to give the Kiwi driver a full day’s running ahead of the season-opener in Australia, next month.
“We decided to do a full day with Liam today, to continue to prepare him ahead of the season,” he explained as quoted on X (formerly Twitter).
That said, even the best laid out plans go amiss. And the racing gods intervened at the Sakhir International Circuit today as the heavens opened up, curtailing the #30 driver’s on-track running.
“Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t great, with some rain at the beginning of the day,” he added.
Pierre Waché, Red Bull Technical Director: “We decided to do a full day with Liam today, to continue to prepare him ahead of the season. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t great, with some rain at the beginning of the day, so we….”
1/4 Red Bull/Mark Thompson pic.twitter.com/fjQ38yU1dV
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) February 27, 2025
As the day ended, Lawson had clocked in the seventh fastest time with the RB21, almost a second off pace-setter Carlos Sainz. However, Wache revealed why this could have been the case as the team decided to run race simulations with him.
This meant that Lawson was running a higher fuel load to simulate a Grand Prix-length run. The run plan devised by the Milton Keynes-based team focused on understanding the set-up of the car, and Lawson clocked in a total of 91 laps.
However, F1 pundit Karun Chandhok claimed on-air that the Kiwi driver wasn’t able to complete a simulation of a Grand Prix distance at a stretch. Red Bull had several stoppages in its run plans, as they even halted Lawson’s morning session over half an hour earlier than the scheduled lunch break.
91 Laps for Liam
Day two of Testing comes to a close, back tomorrow with Max on track #F1Testing || #RedBullRacing pic.twitter.com/uLl6jTXA9I
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 27, 2025
All in all, the Bulls had the lowest lap count of all the 10 teams on day two, while all other teams clocked in 100+ laps.
Wache praises Lawson for his proximity to Verstappen
Despite a rain-interrupted day of running, the Bulls were pleased with Lawson’s efforts behind the wheel of the RB21. Wache even commended the Kiwi racing ace for his similarities with Verstappen.
In fact, the Frenchman explained that he could align the duo’s feedback about the car perfectly.
“Liam responded well today and his feedback was very close to Max’s. We have good understandings to take into the final day of Testing now, with Max at the wheel,” he concluded.
In the past, with Sergio Perez, the Austrian team had a hard time collating developmental feedback. The #11 driver expected a stable rear-end from his car but the Dutchman was craving a car with more front-end bite.
This differing style of driving proved disastrous for Red Bull last year as they lost ground in the Constructors’ championship with the RB20. With Lawson and Verstappen seemingly on the same page regarding the feedback from their stints, the team can now focus on developing the car in a streamlined and unified way.
This could prove crucial for the Bulls’ championship ambitions in 2025 and beyond.
