Horner assures Red Bull is ready to develop the RB21 until the end of the season

To defend the world title of Max Verstappen – and perhaps convince him to stay – Red Bull intends to redouble its efforts in the development of its car…2025. While most, if not all, other teams will quickly look ahead to 2026 and the arrival of the new technical regulations, the Austrian team seems to want to play its cards right to the end this season. This is, in any case, the will of Christian Horner. The Red Bull Team Principal indicated Friday, at a press conference in Shanghai, that his team is ready to develop the RB21 until the last Grand Prix of the year if circumstances allow. That is, if Red Bull or Max Verstappen are fighting for the title until the end. According to him, McLaren will be the target to beat in 2025 and the Austrian clan intends to shake up the British team as long as the title is mathematically possible.

"This is of course a development race from now until Abu Dhabi in December. It will be a nine-month marathon season, said the British manager, who expects a very close season despite McLaren's domination at the first meeting of the year. From what we saw in Melbourne, if the competitiveness is like this throughout the season, it could be an exceptional year. Inevitably, it depends on how the championship plays out, but you have to keep pushing. In this business, if you stand still, you go backwards.

Is Horner trying to reassure Verstappen?

Christian Horner and Red Bull could therefore extend the RB21's development period to give themselves every chance, a philosophy that contradicts that of other teams whose focus on the 2026 campaign will be very rapid this year. These statements come amid rumors of a potential departure of Max Verstappen to Mercedes at the end of the 2025 season. Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, had notably tried to sow discord at the beginning of the week by stating in the columns of the Telegraph that he saw Max Verstappen leaving the Red Bull ship at the end of this 2025 season. Is Christian Horner's media outing intended to reassure his Dutch star while, at the same time, doubts hang over the performance of the future RBPT-Ford engine of 2026?

Christian Horner and Zak Brown were also sitting side by side on the sofa at the press conference in Shanghai on Friday. In response to Horner's comments, the American manager insisted that it was still impossible to determine the strengths of the field this season after a rain-disrupted first round in Australia. "It's just one race, in tricky conditions, so let's see how things play out over the next few races. I don't think we've seen the final hierarchy yet," Zak Brown defended, despite his two drivers' lead in qualifying in Melbourne. We're only in the second race of the season and already, the psychological warfare is beginning between two of the season's main protagonists.

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