Pre-season testing in Bahrain has given F1 teams a chance to study what each other has ahead of the 2025 season and Red Bull are not happy with McLaren and Ferrari.
The heavyweight trio enter the new season as the favourites to fight for the F1 constructors’ championship, with Mercedes providing further competition. McLaren edged Ferrari by just 14 points for the title last term as Red Bull fell to third place after their back-to-back crowns.
It will also likely be between the McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and possibly Mercedes racers for the drivers’ title this term. Lando Norris is the pre-season F1 title favourite for many, but the four-time defending champion Max Verstappen will bid to match Juan Manuel Fangio’s total.
Red Bull suspect Ferrari and McLaren are ‘still’ using the mini-DRS concept at F1 testing
Tensions could also be bubbling away at F1 testing at the home of the Bahrain Grand Prix as Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache thinks McLaren and Ferrari are ‘still’ using the mini-DRS concept. The FIA has effectively outlawed the concept with changes to the regulations.
McLaren caused Red Bull a lot of anger at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix when they utilised the mini-DRS concept with their high-downforce rear wing. Oscar Piastri won the Azerbaijan GP after overtaking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while Verstappen could only come home in P5.
Red Bull believed McLaren gained two-tenths with the mini-DRS and protested the design of the rear wing. The FIA did not deem their design illegal but asked McLaren to make changes to control how much their wing rear element could open ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.
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The FIA has even made changes to the technical regulations ahead of the 2025 F1 season to effectively outlaw the mini-DRS, with the minimum slot gap reduced from 10-15mm to 9.4-13mm when the DRS is closed. Yet Wache questions McLaren and Ferrari’s rear wing design.
“It is still going on!” Wache told The Race. “I think Ferrari and McLaren are doing the mini-DRS stuff still… It will be [a big talking point]. It is quite visible.”
Red Bull face waiting until the Australian Grand Prix for answers on Ferrari and McLaren’s wings
The changes the FIA made to the technical regulations were designed to prevent teams from adopting the mini-DRS concept before F1 testing in Bahrain. But Wache’s doubts regarding McLaren and Ferrari’s rear wings arose after watching onboard footage at the track in Sakhir.
In its report quoting Wache’s concerns, The Race adds that some teams feel rival crews have either created their rear wing in such a way that the entire structure can rotate back or they have it set up in a way to open their slot gap when the car is at speed like McLaren’s in Baku.
Teams also do not need to have their rear wing designs checked by the FIA during F1 testing. So, Wache and Red Bull face waiting until at least the Australian Grand Prix to lodge a formal protest if Ferrari and McLaren do use the mini-DRS concept with their wings in Melbourne.
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