Red Bull Racing chief engineer Paul Monaghan has explained why he is sure all F1 teams will be “nervous” ahead of the first test of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Max Verstappen has just won a fourth F1 world championship title, but Red Bull has its work cut out for it in the remaining two events if it is to extend its run as constructors' champion. It is even unlikely that it will succeed, as things currently stand it could even be eliminated from the title race in Qatar, with a final duel between McLaren F1 and Ferrari in Abu Dhabi.
And there will be no changes for the RB20: Red Bull is obviously already working 100% on the 2025 car.
Monaghan confides that his team has already thought carefully about what will be changed compared to the current RB20.
“I guarantee everyone will be nervous before the first test next year.”
“It's not like we don't know, even halfway through the season, what we want to try to achieve with next year's car. And the development of next year's car will be very hampered with the arrival of the studies to be done for the 2026 car. It will be the same for everyone: nervousness while hoping for a good basis to face 2025.”
“From our side, we know what we want to do. At the moment, all the plans are in place.”
Monaghan will closely observe what the other teams are doing, to see what development strategy between 2025 and 2026 will be deployed.
“This is what we are already doing compared to our opponents but next year will be crucial because there will be a big shift into a new era.”
“We know how much work we want to do for each F1, what we want to try to achieve, and then we will see how much development work we have to put into it. We want to fight for next year's championships, so it will be a real challenge for everyone at Red Bull Racing in order to achieve all our objectives: to win 2025, to be efficient from the start in 2026. But we will try.”
