Red Bull’s preparations for the 2025 season have had both good and bad moments after pre-season testing in Bahrain. The new RB21 looked strong at first, especially compared to last year’s difficult RB20. But as testing went on, the team ran into some issues, meaning there’s still work to do before the first race.

Max Verstappen was happy with how the car felt at the start, and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko agreed, saying the team’s changes had made the RB21 more stable than the RB20. However, as they added more parts, including a new front wing, Verstappen struggled to find the perfect setup. This led to mixed results by the end of testing.

Red Bull’s technical director, Pierre Wache, admitted that the RB21 is not yet where they want it to be. “I am not as happy as I could be because the car did not respond how we wanted at times, but it is going in the right direction,” Wache said.

“Just maybe the magnitude of the direction was not as big as we expected, and it’s something we need to work on for the first race and future development.”

The team also had some technical problems. Verstappen lost time because of an engine oil system leak, while Liam Lawson had issues with the car’s cooling system. In the end, Red Bull completed the fewest laps of any team, with Verstappen only managing 81 laps on the last day. Despite this, Wache said it’s better to deal with these issues now than during a race.

“It was not as smooth a test as we expected and the team expected, but it is better to find some problems here than later down the line,” he explained.

“That’s why we are here—to understand the car.”