Max Verstappen will look to become only the second F1 driver to win five world titles in a row this year, as Red Bull try to return to the top of the constructors’ championship.
Only Michael Schumacher has ever gone where Verstappen dreams of reaching in 2025. The German lifted five drivers’ titles in as many reasons from 2000 until 2004 with Ferrari before Fernando Alonso knocked Schumacher off his perch with back-to-back crowns for Renault.
Winning the Formula 1 drivers’ championship this season would also move Verstappen level with Juan Manuel Fangio with five titles. Just Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton with seven to date rank clear of the Argentine, with Verstappen level with Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.
Red Bull will hope Verstappen and his new teammate Liam Lawson, who has replaced Sergio Perez, also guide them back to the top of the constructors’ standings. The team from Milton Keynes fell to third behind McLaren and Ferrari after back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
Red Bull make a ‘very drastic’ change to the floor of Max Verstappen’s 2025 F1 car
In an attempt to surpass McLaren and Ferrari again in 2025, which is also the final season of F1’s current technical regulations, Red Bull have made a ‘very drastic’ change to the floor on Verstappen and Lawson’s new car. The team showed the alterations at F1 testing in Bahrain.
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That is according to Motorsport.com reporter Ronald Vording, who notes that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner tried to avoid revealing the changes his squad have made to their floor. But the RB21 hitting the circuit in Sakhir revealed the tweaks to a vital part of their car.
“If you look up close, you can see that there are some things that are different especially the bodywork at the sides,” he said. “The undercut is further back and even further to the rear, the suspension philosophy is the same but the position of the wishbones is slightly different.
“Horner says the most important changes [are ones] people can’t see and he doesn’t make it clear what they are. But it should actually be about the floor. The floor is crucial with the current generation of cars. More than 60 [points] of the total downforce is generated there.
“That floor is also crucial for the balance of the car, so it is very likely that Red Bull have made a very drastic change there and we also got a few clues for that because if you walk around that car, you can see that the floor edges are also slightly different.”
Red Bull will hope their new floor pays off to focus on the 2026 F1 chassis regulations
Red Bull will hope that the changes that Vording has spotted on their floor during F1 testing at the home of the Bahrain Grand Prix pay off given their believed desire to avoid designing further upgrades. Rival teams believe Red Bull’s new car is already in its final form for 2025.
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Pre-season testing has not been perfect for the Milton Keynes squad, however, after Lawson struggled with oversteer in Red Bull’s new car. The RB21 may also be somewhat sensitive to the weather conditions after a gust of wind caused Lawson to spin on Day One of F1 testing.
If their new floor does not bring the benefits that Red Bull believe it could, it would be a big job for their designers to find a fix at a time they likely would rather focus on next year’s car and the chassis regulations F1 is embracing. But a title bid may force them to focus on 2025.
