Red Bull Racing leads to crackdown of mini-DRS in Formula 1 2025 season. [Credits: X/ Formula 1]

Red Bull Tips Off FIA To Minimise Disadvantage in 2025

Red Bull collaborated with FIA in a rare show of justice to level the playing field.

Red Bull Racing leads to crackdown of mini-DRS in Formula 1 2025 season. [Credits: X/ Formula 1]

Red Bull Racing has been one of the most successful teams of the past years in Formula 1. They have won six constructor championships since 2010. Red Bull Racing was the only other team to win championships in Formula 1 besides Mercedes. However, the 2024 season spelled the end of one of the glorious runs in Formula 1. After the dominating the Formula 1 championship with Max Verstappen in 2022 and 2023, Red Bull finally lost the battle. They weren’t the fastest car on the grid anymore. Furthermore, the Bulls were third in the 2024 constructor’s championship. You can attribute their failures to the inability of their second driver to score enough points. However, the 2024 season surfaced their problems in a much more significant way.

Red Bull Racing knew pretty well that they were not going to be the fastest car on the grid anymore. The recent tensions that they have had with McLaren also made sure that Red Bull would not want the Woking outfit to gain further advantage. In addition to this, the Bulls had also lost Adrian Newey so they couldn’t count on his superior skills anymore. So the Bulls decide to do the perfect thing in this situation- snitch to FIA.

Formula 1 Tightens The Noose on Flexible Rear Wing

The Formula 1 racing event isn’t called the pinnacle of motorsports for nothing. The sport has a history of some marvellous innovations which have changed the way teams compete forever. The FIA has always mandated strict rules about building Formula 1 cars. However, some teams decide that they will go above and beyond to manipulate these rules to their advantage. The blown diffuser, double diffuser, Driver Assistance System, active suspension, fan-car, six-wheeled car are some examples of the way teams have innovated in Formula 1.

Red Bull’s previous technical head and aerodynamic magician, Adrian Newey himself strived on innovatice solutions to utilise loopholes of the FIA rulebook. Red Bull has benefitted from this in the past. However, Formula 1 teams have the bad habit of stopping any techincal innovations if they compete against it. Red Bull did something similar with the other teams of the grid.

Red Bull Decide to Strike Down on “mini-DRS”

Formula 1 has a DRS system to assist with overtakes. However, it can be activated in only certain conditions. Formula 1 teams were working on a flexible rear wing system to boost their advantage and utilise a “mini-DRS”. The flap can’t be opened legally unless allowed to. However, teams decide to create designs in such a manner that the aerodynamic load on the rear wing would automatically create a gap during races. This would produce a situation similar to a DRS and help the drivers overtake easily or defend with higher speeds. Red Bull did not particularly like the idea.

Auto Motor und Sport reported that Red Bull compelled the FIA to take action against the flexible rear-wings. This led to some new rule changes for the Chinese Grand Prix. As per the new rules-

The new modification affects the maximum size of the opening of the rear wing. The limit is reduced from 2 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters at a load of 75 kilograms, with a tolerance of 0.25 millimeters in China due to the abrupt adjustment. In Japan, there is no longer a tolerance and the rear wing is allowed a maximum gap of 0.5 millimeters.

Red Bull has been working behind the scenes to ensure the stiffness of rear wings ever since the 2025 Formula 1 testing began. It seems like they have finally destroyed the biggest obstacle in their path- innovation.

Although, one can’t help but think- if Isack Hajdar’s breakdown was something “embarassing” to Helmut Marko, how proud did he feel about his world champion team crying to the FIA. Especially considering the fact, that they used to utilise the most loopholes in regulations with the help of Adrian Newey.

Formula 1

Formula 1 2025 Season

Red Bull Racing

Rohan Singh

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I work as a Writer at The Playoffs specialising in NHL, Formula 1 and Motorsports. I got into online journalism a couple of years ago. I used to be an intern for a website managing their Formula 1 content and then I served an entire year as a contractual writer.