Red Bull is already shifting its focus to 2025 F1 challenger, according to reports

Red Bull have reportedly started shifting their focus on to their 2025 F1 challenger, the RB21. The much-improved development of the RB20 will be used in the upcoming F1 season.

A dominant performance throughout the season in 2023 supposedly made it easier for Red Bull to develop their 2024 car. Even after winning 21 out of the 22 races in the previous season, the team seems to have found some weakness in the RB19, which they tried to fix in the RB20 for the next season.

Ben Waterhouse, the head of performance engineering of the team, recently revealed the goals for the RB20. Speaking to Racecar Engineering, he stated that the team is working on the weaknesses of the RB19 and further enhancing the strengths.

"We are aware that the RB19 had considerable limitations. If we think back to Singapore, weaknesses have certainly emerged. There are areas we want to improve, be it performance at high or low speeds. At the same time, [the machine] had clear strong points, which we want to enhance while at the same time trying to address its critical issues," Waterhouse said.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has also spoken about the weakness of the car on street circuits such as Singapore and Las Vegas in the 2023 season. The former was the only race that the team did not manage to win, as Carlos Sainz's Ferrari took the victory. Further, the Las Vegas GP saw a tough battle between Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.

Looking forward to the future seasons of F1, Waterhouse revealed that the RB20 is a car that is "six months old," and because of this lead in development, they are already looking forward to the 2025 challenger.

"The RB20 is a car that is at least six months old and we are already starting to move our attention on the RB21, even if the season has not yet started," he said.

At this pace of development, if Red Bull continues to build extremely competitive cars, the sport could well witness another two years of its domination. The year 2025 will be the final season of F1 with these cars as new engine regulations will come into effect from 2026.

At the same time, however, their competitors were looking better towards the end of 2023, so that could pose the Milton Keynes team some challenges.

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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen reveals RB19's weaknesses in the 2023 F1 season

Much like Ben Waterhouse revealed, three-time F1 world champion, Max Verstappen shared similar views about the weaknesses of the RB19. While most spectators might think of the car as perfect, it apparently wasn't so for the Dutchman.

The races that proved to be relatively difficult for Red Bull showed the weakness of the car, according to Verstappen. The first highlight for him was the Singapore GP and then the Las Vegas GP.

"I think we know our weaknesses as well in the car, and that’s what we’ll try to work on," PlanetF1 quoted him as saying. "Look at our race weekend in Singapore. In general, on street circuits, I think we are struggling a bit more – like in Vegas also."

As mentioned earlier, it was Ferrari that won the Singapore GP, and that was also the team that challenged Red Bull's other driver Sergio Perez during the Las Vegas GP. Despite the inconsistencies in the two races, Red Bull remained undefeated in the rest of the races and achieved a 1-2 in the championship standings for the first time in their history.