Red Bull acknowledges that the new and old cars are "very similar."

      Christian Horner has openly acknowledged that Red Bull's 2025 car is "visually very similar" to its previous model. On Tuesday, the team unveiled dimly-lit images of the 'new' car as Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson geared up for their filming day in Bahrain prior to official testing. Insiders remarked that the RB21 looks nearly identical to the 2024 vehicle. "The devil is in the detail," insisted team principal Horner.

      Following the internal upheaval at Red Bull last year, Adrian Newey made the decision to leave the team for Aston Martin, where he will commence working on March 3. When informed that the 2025 car is the first Red Bull in several years not designed by Newey, reigning champion Verstappen said, "I don’t think about it too much. He’s not here anymore— that’s how things are. I have immense respect for what Adrian has done for Red Bull, I maintain a great relationship with him, and I'm pleased for him as he embarks on a new project," as quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

      After completing a "few laps" in the new car on Tuesday, Verstappen expressed that he "felt comfortable." "We are aware of the areas where we didn’t perform well in 2024, and we have addressed those. Once we start pushing a bit harder, we will quickly find out if our efforts have been fruitful," he added.

      The four-time consecutive drivers’ title holder mentioned that he hasn't set "any goals" for the 2025 season. He now has a new teammate, Liam Lawson, who Dr. Helmut Marko believes is meant to provide better support for Verstappen than Sergio Perez did. Horner stated, "Liam’s role is quite clear. He’s there to assist as much as possible. We don’t expect him to go out on track and beat a four-time world champion. If he manages to do that, great, there’s no one here telling him he can’t. But the focus is simply on alleviating pressure from him."

      Horner seems to concur that Verstappen, at 27, may not enter the final season of the current regulations as the frontrunner. "Sometimes it’s nice not to be the favorites," he remarked. "It places pressure on others, so I wouldn’t mind seeing Lando (Norris) go into the first race as the favorite. But that doesn’t mean much until we’re actually on the track. And even then, Albert Park is quite a unique circuit."

      Lastly, Horner’s rival Toto Wolff took the opportunity of the 2025 Red Bull’s debut to make a comment at Horner's expense. When asked about Verstappen and Horner being booed at the O2 arena recently, the Mercedes boss replied, "I don’t believe Max was booed. We shouldn’t downplay a great event just because one individual, rightly or wrongly, received boos while speaking." When humorously asked if Wolff had joined in the booing of Horner, the Austrian laughed, "With 15,000 people doing it, I had no need to join in."