McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Red Bull’s latest developments could become a major talking point throughout the Formula 1 paddock.
Red Bull introduced an extensive upgrade package at the Miami Grand Prix.
Most teams arrived in Miami with significant updates, including both McLaren and Red Bull, but it was Red Bull’s revised RB22 that attracted particular attention.
While the team’s interpretation of Ferrari’s “Macarena” rear wing concept stood out visually, Stella admitted another area of the car had especially caught his eye.
According to Stella, the RB22’s sidepod design was “very interesting”, praising Red Bull’s overall upgrade philosophy as clever and creative.
He added that “each team” on the grid would now be attempting to understand the thinking behind the concept and uncover any potential advantages hidden within the design.
“For those who are technically interested, we are in a very, very interesting phase,” Stella said.
“It is very interesting because if you see the sidepod concept that Red Bull introduced, it is quite different to the sidepod concept that, for instance, Mercedes and Ferrari have adopted, and the McLaren style is further different.
“There will be a stabilisation at some stage, a convergence, but we look like we are quite far from this convergence.
“So I think there will be a process of looking at each other, testing things and certainly each team will be testing, taking a look at the Red Bull concept to see the advantages.
“They have been quite smart and innovative in the way they have used some legality concessions to introduce such geometry.
“I think the overall designs of the cars are far from converging. This doesn’t mean that some things have already started to look like: ‘Oh, that is the direction everyone has taken’, but with the 2025 cars, after a few years of the regulations, they started to look very similar to each other.
“I think we are still far from these conditions.”
