Horner blames wind tunnel data discrepancy for Red Bull woes

Christian Horner feels he is “looking at two different watches” after revealing the Red Bull Formula 1 car's issues stem from limited correlation between wind tunnel and track data.

Despite Max Verstappen winning the Japanese Grand Prix, and with the Dutchman still the reigning world champion, Red Bull’s dominance of recent years ebbed away throughout last season and has not returned at the start of 2025.

After a disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend, Red Bull’s top brass held ‘crisis’ talks in an attempt to progress forward.

Horner admitted the RB21 is suffering from “similar” technical issues that Verstappen wrestled with to retain his title last year, while pinpointing discrepancies between the wind tunnel and the on-track outputs as something the team needs to get a grip of.

“Ultimately you can mask it a little through set-up and we were able to achieve that in Suzuka but I think this race [in Bahrain] has exposed some pitfalls that we very clearly have that we need to get on top of very quickly,” he said.

“I think we understand where the issues are, it's introducing the solutions that obviously take a little more time. I think the problems are understood, I think the problem is that the solutions with what we see within our tools compared to what we're seeing on track at the moment aren't correlating and I think that's what we need to get to the bottom of, why can we not see within our tools what we're seeing on the circuit?

“When you end up with a disconnect like that, you have to obviously unpick it, we've got a strong technical team that have produced some amazing cars over the last few years and I'm confident that they'll get to the bottom of this issue. But it's literally the tool isn't replicating with what we're seeing on the track and then it's at that point, it's like telling the time on two different watches.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Clive Rose / Getty Images

With 2025 the last year of the current regulations, there were no major overhauls of any cars over the winter but some teams – Haas and Mercedes – have made net gains, while Red Bull has struggled to correct the problems that plagued the back end of 2024.

Horner is hopeful that, with four races already ticked off, the increased amount of data supplied from Australia, China, Japan and Bahrain can help find a solution.

Asked if it was the same issues causing a downturn in performance, he replied: “It's similar - primarily the wind tunnel has driven us in a direction that isn't replicating what we're seeing on track and so, then you end up with a mishmash between what your tools are telling you and what the track data is and so obviously now as we're accumulating track data, it's the track data that's driving the solutions.

“I think it's clear we understand what the problem is, it's implementing the solution. It's the entry phase into the mid-corner that needs addressing and giving him [Verstappen] the ability and grip and confidence that it takes to carry speed into entry of corners, now that's fundamentally an aero issue that we need to be able to give him that grip.

“The problem that we have is that we're at the end of a set of regulations where the gains are very, very marginal and I think we're seeing some of the shortcomings in our current tunnel.”

Red Bull will hope to benefit from a new wind tunnel facility, but not before the start of the new regulation cycle next year, even if plans are ahead of time on both of Horner’s watches.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing, Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Bryn Lennon - Formula 1

“We have a new tunnel coming online for '27 but we have the current tool certainly for another 18 months or so,” he added.

“The new one is currently ahead of schedule but would be for implementation in 2027.

“It's a 24-race championship, we're eight points behind in the drivers' championship and we know we need to make progress very quickly, so it was important to score points…it's how they add up at the end of the year that's important.”