Max Verstappen has hit the track for the first time in Red Bull’s brand new RB21 as he chases a fifth consecutive Formula 1 world championship.
Verstappen crept across the line in 2024 after the likes of McLaren and Ferrari developed their cars well and started to contend for victories.
It has prompted major changes from Red Bull who refuse to give up on their championship hopes in the final season before the 2026 F1 regulations arrive.
2025 marks their first season without the legendary Adrian Newey in 20 years. Time will tell if it has a major effect on their performance.
Lawson’s testing gesture will worry Verstappen after he indicated handling issues with the new car and suffered from some oversteer.
Defending the drivers’ championship will prove to be challenging unless Red Bull have closed the gap to their rivals. Otherwise, the sport may be crowing a new champion for the first time since 2020 after Abu Dhabi.
Max Verstappen’s first push lap of 2025 was ‘crucial’ for Red Bull during F1 testing
The first morning of running in Bahrain was a fairly smooth operation. Red Bull will ‘absolutely hate’ Lawson’s spin halfway through the session, which may give airflow information away to their rivals.
It didn’t take long for them to ask Verstappen to push, as he set a low fuel time just a few laps into the afternoon session.
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Speaking on Sky Sports F1, Ted Kravitz said that because so much of their car has changed, it was a ‘crucial’ lap for the team.
“Max was obviously going for it and certainly everybody in the garage was keen to see what that lap was going to be. We’ve got them all lined up here,” he said.
“We’ve got Christian Horner, Helmut Marko and Liam Lawson, as well as GP Lambiase, all the other engineers, just looking at the pictures, watching Max on that lap.
“So, I think that was a crucial lap and it’s just going to be so fascinating because, I don’t know if everyone watched the press conference in the break, but Christian Horner underlining how much is different on this RB21. He said every single surface was changed from last year.”
Nigel Mansell shares what he has heard about Max Verstappen’s 2025 Red Bull F1 car
The last time it felt like Verstappen was in a position like this was 2020, when Mercedes were the undisputed leaders at the front.
On the evidence of 2024, both McLaren and Ferrari should be ahead and there’s a lot of work for the team to do if they want to win again.
Despite what testing may indicate, which is always difficult to draw conclusions from, Nigel Mansell has heard good things about Verstappen’s car.
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Even if he has a deficit to his rivals, his talents and aggressive approach mean that he is always a contender as long as his car isn’t at a huge disadvantage.
It’s fully expected that on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix, he will be able to compete for victory with his new rivals for the title.
