Overview

• Racing Bulls deliberately engineered the VCARB 02 to be more forgiving, boosting rookie Isack Hadjar’s debut and reviving Liam Lawson’s form.
• Max Verstappen has not tested the VCARB 02 despite Formula 1 regulations allowing two 200 km filming days per season on demo tyres.
• Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies and Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane say the RB21 and VCARB 02 are too fundamentally different for feedback to transfer directly.
• Sources point to paddock scrutiny and impending tightening of Section F on team independence as deterrents to any cross-running between Red Bull outfits.
• With development focused on the 2026 regulation overhaul, strict budget caps and limited wind-tunnel time have curtailed actionable updates to the 2025 cars.