In a major boost for reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull has done a “good job” with their new creation, the RB21.

That is the information heard by Formula 1 legend Nigel Mansell, who for as much as he wants to see Lewis Hamilton and his former team Ferrari back on top in F1, warns that Verstappen and Red Bull “won’t lie down” in the much-anticipated F1 2025 season to come.

Red Bull onto a winner with RB21?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

After Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all enjoyed their time in the sun with race-winning F1 2024 pace, hopes are building for an epic title battle to come, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looks to secure a fifth World Championship in a row.

Red Bull meanwhile are bidding to return to the Constructors’ Championship summit, after dropping to a P3 finish last season behind Ferrari and new champions McLaren.

It was following what had become a characteristically dominant start to F1 2024 that Red Bull lost its way, the team going 10 races without a win as balance issues set in with the RB20, a decline the team began to turn around with Verstappen winning two of the last four grands prix.

And as the RB21 readies to hit the track – a filming day in Bahrain scheduled on Tuesday February 25, the day before pre-season testing commences – Mansell has heard good things from his sources about Red Bull’s new challenger.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the 1992 World Champion Mansell said: “Ferrari are so long overdue to win the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship so with Charles Leclerc and Lewis, I really hope that they get it done.

“It’d be magical for Lewis to win another World Championship and I wish him all the best.

“The exciting thing about F1 in 2025 is that Max won’t lie down with Red Bull.

“I’ve heard Red Bull have done a good job with the car over the winter.

“McLaren were outstanding last year and if they got their act together a little bit sooner, they could have won the [Drivers’] Championship so both Lando [Norris] and [Oscar] Piastri are going to be challenging.

“And, of course, you mustn’t forget Mercedes with George Russell. Toto Wolff [team principal] is not there to make up the numbers.

“We’ve got four fantastic teams and an incredible 2025 to look forward to.”

More on F1 2025

👉 The ultimate F1 2025 guide: Everything you need to know about the 2025 season

👉 F1 2025 cars: What name has each team given its chassis for the 2025 season?

The sentiment of good work being done at Red Bull over the winter has been echoed by team boss Christian Horner.

However, he admits that only once the RB21 heads into action will they learn the true extent of their progress.

“I think that it was a matter of unravelling it to understand what were the contributing factors to having a very peaky performance,” Horner told the media, including PlanetF1.com, at the F1 75 launch event in London. “That’s where the team have worked very hard to understand that and address it.

“The team have worked very hard over the winter to work on some of the vices of RB20. I think we’ve had a good winter. And, you know, the team has been working incredibly hard.

“We’ll get the first sort of indication next week as to, you know, have we managed to address some of the issues. We managed to improve them during the course of certainly the latter third of last year. And we’ll see if we’ve managed to go a step further over these early races.”

Read next: Max Verstappen reveals one rule he’d immediately change in F1 ahead of birth of first child