Helmut Marko has admitted that the Racing Bulls are "much easier to drive" compared to the RB21 that has been designed for Red Bull Racing in 2025.
It comes after Liam Lawson was demoted back down to Racing Bulls after a tough start to the 2025 Formula 1 season, and he will now be replaced by Yuki Tsunoda from Red Bull's sister team after the Japanese driver was originally overlooked by Marko and team principal Christian Horner.
A battle between the two drivers took place for the final six Grands Prix of the season in 2024 to replace the outgoing Sergio Perez, and it was Lawson who won it, performing well at Racing Bulls after coming in and replacing Daniel Ricciardo. However, since moving to Red Bull, the New Zealander has struggled to get to grips with what has been a very tricky RB21.
Marko knows how tricky the RB21 is to drive
Only some brilliance by Max Verstappen led Red Bull to title glory in 2024, with a troublesome RB20 hindering the Dutchman multiple times, while Sergio Perez struggled throughout the season. It looks to be the same for the RB21, as some impressive drives from Verstappen have only resulted in a P2 and P4 at the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix, respectively.
"It is true that the RB21 is difficult to drive," started Marko while speaking to Oe24. "The Racing Bulls is much easier to drive and very fast in a single qualifying lap. But the difference is that in the race, the Racing Bulls are always slower and behind us."
Many point to the absence of Adrian Newey at Red Bull as the cause of the disappointing performance. Last year, it was announced that he was leaving after the 2025 Miami Grand Prix, then making the move to work at Aston Martin from 1 March 2025.
"Of course, we miss such a man. Newey is Newey," continued Marko when asked if the loss of the master designer is the reason for the spiral out of form. "But we are a team of 1,000 people; the team behind it gradually got bigger and bigger."
This article was written in collaboration with Hidde Korte
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