Red Bull director adamant that they ‘didn’t lie’ in eagerly awaited Formula 1 document

Red Bull enter the 2025 Formula 1 season with a quiet optimism. Max Verstappen will, for the fourth season in a row, enter as the defending champion.

But for the first time since 2022, Red Bull won’t sit on the constructors’ throne. McLaren won last year’s title, with Ferrari demoting Christian Horner’s squad to third.

The Bulls lost their way midway through the 2024 season. The low point was Monza, when even Verstappen, renowned for his robotic ability to maximise a car’s potential, could only finish sixth.

That result came in the midst of a 10-race winless run, but Red Bull seemed to improve their car late in the season. Verstappen ended his drought at the Sao Paulo GP with an all-time great drive from 17th on the grid.

That race was something of an aberration given the torrential rain, but Verstappen had also been fast in the dry conditions. He pursued the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri closely during Saturday’s Sprint.

While he was seething after he lost pole position, Verstappen went on to win the penultimate round in Qatar too. It was the kind of assured drive to which fans have become accustomed in recent years, raising hopes for the year ahead.

Pierre Wache insists Red Bull told ‘the truth’ in surprising FIA upgrade document

Motorsport Netherlands journalist Ronald Vording recalls that the F1 media centre ‘eagerly awaited’ the FIA technical document ahead of the US Grand Prix in October. The document lists every team’s updates ahead of a race weekend.

In the midst of Verstappen’s title fight with Norris, Red Bull were expected to bring a ‘large package’. But the document only listed two changes: adjustments to the floor edge and sidepods.

This was a surprise, but it underplayed the true impact of the upgrade. Speaking to Vording, Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache pointed out that the document doesn’t tell the full story.

The feeling is that teams ‘play with’ the declaration rules to hide information from their rivals. But Wache is adamant that Red Bull didn’t lie.

“The FIA ​​document is only about the shape and the parts you changed,” he said. “It doesn’t say anything about the characteristics or the amount of downforce points you gain.

“The package was bigger, but of course I don’t know what the others are doing. We told the truth: we changed the floor and we found a big gain in downforce compared to the correlation.

“The correlation with the wind tunnel was a lot better. So we didn’t lie in the document, it’s just that the document doesn’t tell you exactly how much we found.”

Max Verstappen expects one team to be ahead of Red Bull in 2026

Red Bull attribute their late-season improvement to the Austin package. Verstappen won the Sprint that weekend, though he couldn’t live with the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the race.

The team must deliver a contending package this year to quiet the doubts around Verstappen’s future. Both Aston Martin and Mercedes have been strongly linked with a move.

One theory is that Mercedes could pursue Verstappen if Kimi Antonelli struggles early on. He will become the third-youngest driver in F1 history, partnering three-time race-winner George Russell.

Verstappen believes Mercedes will be ahead of Red Bull in 2026 when F1 enters a new ruleset. He may therefore be open to a move to Brackley, should Toto Wolff make a space available.