Max Verstappen is optimistic about Red Bull’s latest challenger, the RB21, as he prepares to defend his Formula 1 world title for a fifth consecutive season.
The Dutchman’s fourth championship in 2024 was built on early-season dominance, but McLaren – led by Lando Norris – proved to have the faster car in the latter half of the year, raising questions about Red Bull’s continued supremacy.
In response, Red Bull has made crucial changes to their design, with Verstappen confident the team has taken the right steps to stay ahead of the competition.
“The development direction we chose at the time showed a lot of promise, but unfortunately it didn’t work like that on track so we had to change a few things,” said Verstappen, as quoted by the BBC.
“Now let’s hope that is the right direction. We are confident it is the right direction but let’s see how much we can extract out of it for this final season with this car.”
The team has now released official images of the RB21, though the studio shots were taken under low lighting to obscure aerodynamic details from rivals.
The new car will have a brief ‘filming day’ test in Bahrain on Tuesday before the official pre-season testing begins at the same venue on Wednesday.
These early runs will provide the first insights into Red Bull’s developments and whether they have successfully fended off McLaren’s challenge.
