The Red Bull RB21 car has passed the FIA’s mandatory crash tests ahead of the F1 2025 season, PlanetF1.com understands.

And the car is poised to make its first on-track appearance in a shakedown in Bahrain on February 25, one day before the start of F1’s official pre-season test in Sakhir.

Red Bull RB21 to make on-track debut in Bahrain

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed a fourth consecutive World Championship last year, seeing off the threat of McLaren driver Lando Norris by a final margin of 63 points.

It saw Verstappen become only the second driver in F1 history to win his first four titles in successive years, following in the footsteps of Red Bull icon Sebastian Vettel.

However, Red Bull’s F1 2024 campaign proved a stiffer challenge than previous seasons as Verstappen suffered his longest barren run since 2020 by going 10 races without a win between June and November.

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The mid-season decline of the RB20 car, as well as the lack of contribution by Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez, saw Red Bull slump to a distant third in the Constructors’ standings as McLaren took their first teams’ title since 1998.

Perez has since vacated his seat for F1 2025, with New Zealander Liam Lawson stepping up from the VCARB junior team to become Verstappen’s new team-mate.

With F1 design guru Adrian Newey announcing his decision to leave Red Bull for Aston Martin last year, the pressure is on Red Bull’s new-look technical team, led by French engineer Pierre Waché, to deliver a fifth straight title for Verstappen in F1 2025.

Red Bull have traditionally held a shakedown test at Silverstone, the home of F1’s British Grand Prix, to put the new car through its paces ahead of official pre-season running.

However, this year’s unique winter schedule has seen Red Bull draw up plans to move the RB21’s shakedown to Bahrain.

F1 will to hold its first-ever collective season-launch event, attended by all 10 teams, in London on February 18.

Most teams are expected to reveal only their 2025 race liveries at the O2 Arena extravaganza, keeping their new cars under wraps for as long as possible before the start of an official three-day test in Bahrain between February 26-28.

PlanetF1.com has learned that Red Bull are to wait until February 25, 24 hours before the start of the three-day test, to put the RB21 on track for the first time.

The car is understood to have recently passed the FIA’s crash tests, with Red Bull becoming the second front-running team after Ferrari known to have reached the milestone.

Despite producing the most dominant season in F1 history in 2023, winning all but one of a possible 22 races, Red Bull came up with a new concept at the start of 2024.

Verstappen won four of the first five races of last season with the new-look RB20, but claimed at last year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza that the team had turned the car into a “monster” in 2024.

The Monza weekend is widely believed to have been a key turning point in Red Bull’s understanding of the RB20’s flaws, with long-serving adviser Helmut Marko recently revealing the team have made “good progress” and are “optimistic” ahead of the new season.

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It is unclear at this stage whether Red Bull will retain the fundamental RB20 concept or seek to reintroduce ideas from the all-conquering RB19 of 2023.

In an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, Waché hinted that the RB21 is once again likely to be “different” to its predecessor.

He said: “At the moment, the idea is to develop this concept, develop this car as much as possible.

“Then, [for 2025], we evaluate the concept that we will put on track – that it will be different than [the RB20], for sure, and try to find another step of performance.”

Verstappen recently called for Red Bull to switch up the car’s livery for F1 2025, having ran a matte-blue colour scheme since his first season with the team in 2016.

Appearing on the team’s in-house Talking Bull podcast, he said: “I am looking forward to seeing my own car. The livery, I hope, is a bit different.

Pointing to the older Red Bull cars with glossy liveries in the background, he added: “I was actually talking about it today, I actually really like these cars as well with the shiny colour.

“We’ve had so many matte-blue cars, but I think sometimes it’s just nice to spice it up a little bit.”

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