As FP1 and FP2 draw to a close, F1TV's Sam Collins takes a look at some of the most interesting updates that we've seen in Melbourne so far.
00:00 Intro
00:25 New season, new regs and planning for 2026
01:53 Red Bull's technical strategy
04:41 All change for the Racing Bulls
05:31 Interview with Racing Bulls' Alan Permane
08:32 Racing Bull deep dive
11:31 Rear Wings galore
15:15 Mercedes exhaust
For more F1® videos, visit https://www.Formula1.com
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https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/
https://www.twitter.com/F1
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#F1
00:00 Intro
00:25 New season, new regs and planning for 2026
01:53 Red Bull's technical strategy
04:41 All change for the Racing Bulls
05:31 Interview with Racing Bulls' Alan Permane
08:32 Racing Bull deep dive
11:31 Rear Wings galore
15:15 Mercedes exhaust
For more F1® videos, visit https://www.Formula1.com
Follow F1®:
https://www.instagram.com/F1
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/
https://www.twitter.com/F1
https://www.twitch.tv/formula1
https://www.tiktok.com/@f1
#F1
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NewsTranskript
00:00Do you stick or twist?
00:04Because 2025 is stacking up to be a season like no other.
00:08New concepts for some, while others hold on to what they already know.
00:13But with new regulations on the horizon, who can deal with the change?
00:17It's time to see who's played their cards right down under,
00:20and who'll get lost in the shuffle.
00:24Hello and welcome to the first episode of Tech Talk for the 2025 Formula One season proper.
00:31Pre-season testing is done and dusted, and the teams have headed down under to Australia,
00:37to Melbourne's Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix.
00:40And some things are very much the same, as you already heard,
00:44but some things are a little bit different.
00:46That's right, a new season always means new rule changes.
00:50Except this season, that's not entirely true.
00:53There is a single significant new rule change.
00:57That's right, due to a driver cooling system, the car weights have increased by a whopping,
01:03well, it's about two kilos actually, just so the drivers can have this cooling system,
01:07which we're going to detail a little bit later in the season.
01:10However, that is not all.
01:12Two kilos, it doesn't sound like very much, bolted to the driver's seat,
01:15or bolted to the driver themselves.
01:18But when you locate that in the car, it could have a different effect
01:22as the season goes on, on your vehicle dynamics.
01:25But let's be honest, it's not the biggest change of the year.
01:29No, indeed, the biggest change of the year is the 2026 regulations.
01:33So if just a small rule change there, well, there's a few other detailed rule changes as well,
01:37but for a fairly minor rule change like that, it's not a big surprise
01:41that some of this year's cars look a little bit like last year's cars with a new paint job.
01:45And in the case of Williams and Alpine, they're actually retaining the same monocoques as they did last year.
01:51And a few people speculated that Red Bull Racing were doing the same thing.
01:55Well, it doesn't look like they are.
01:57And actually, even though the Red Bull does look really similar to last year's car,
02:01it is quite different.
02:03In fact, the team has been developing the car consistently through pre-season testing
02:07right up to this weekend in Melbourne.
02:10And there are some interesting changes to the car.
02:12And one of the reasons that there are some changes to the car is that at the end of pre-season testing,
02:17I think it's fair to say that Max Verstappen wasn't particularly happy with the way the car was handling.
02:22And it was all down to a combination of parts that they introduced on the third day of the pre-season test.
02:28Down on the edge of the floor, a new floor was introduced to the car,
02:31and it kind of lost a bit of stability in that third day of the test.
02:35Some people are putting it down to the floor.
02:37But coming into Melbourne, Red Bull is still using that new specification floor.
02:41They're also using that new specification short nose that we talked about in pre-season testing.
02:46But one actual change that has been introduced for Melbourne, you can see here on the rear bodywork.
02:52They've opened up the rear cooling louvres on the engine cover quite significantly on the car.
02:57And that's a bit of a change.
02:58In fact, that whole cooling louvre section was only added on the third day of the pre-season test
03:02as part of that upgrade package they introduced in Bahrain.
03:06And I think the layout of it is just quite interesting.
03:08It's worth taking a quick look at, because when you see the shape of the cooling outlet here,
03:12you can see a very distinctive downward section.
03:15And I wonder, are they trying to get a bit of downwash?
03:17Are they trying to channel the airflow down the side of the bodywork
03:20and into that all-critical area on the inner face of the rear wheel?
03:24Not quite a blown diffuser, but it's kind of reminiscent of that shape, isn't it?
03:28You can see that a lot more clearly when you look at this angle of the outlet on the side of the car.
03:34You can see that very clear downward shape.
03:37And then you can see how it interacts with the shape of the rear of the side pod
03:41and the upper section that bulges out here.
03:43And you can see where that airflow is sort of going.
03:45It's sort of heading down in this direction.
03:47Now, you can't really see air.
03:49Well, unless your name's Adrian Newey, and he's not with Red Bull anymore.
03:52But you can't really see air without a wind tunnel.
03:54So we can't be precise until they cover this thing in FlowVis,
03:57and then we'll get a bit more of an understanding of what that airflow is doing
04:00coming out of this revised cooling exit.
04:03But I think that's quite an interesting sign that Red Bull are playing around with their cooling layout.
04:07And underneath the bodywork, you can see that Red Bull have changed the cooling layout
04:11quite a bit since last season.
04:14And Red Bull's layouts are quite a topic for me,
04:18because I feel that they're not fully at home with that car still.
04:22In 3Practice1 in Melbourne, Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson,
04:26neither of them looked fully happy with the cars as they were.
04:30And they were still changing the setup ever so slightly.
04:32And you saw both drivers fighting the car a little bit around the circuit in different ways as well.
04:37So a bit more to come from Red Bull Racing.
04:40But speaking of Red Bull Racing-branded cars,
04:44not that one,
04:46another team that has changed quite a lot this season,
04:49not just their car design, but also, well, the team name,
04:53the team livery, and one of its drivers,
04:56Racing Bulls, previously known as AlphaTauri, previously known as Toro Rosso,
05:00and if you're old as me, previously known as Minardi.
05:03Well, Racing Bulls is Red Bull's other team,
05:06and it is the team previously known as AlphaTauri.
05:09Now, this car has drawn quite a lot of admiring glances from up and down the pit lane,
05:14and it is a little bit different to last year's car,
05:17and quite similar in other ways to last year's Red Bull.
05:20And I think to explain a little bit more about what's changed and what's still the same,
05:25it's worth having a word with one of the key people behind it,
05:28Alper Mayn, who's down in the pit lane, talking to Lawrence Beretta.
05:59So it's essentially a completely new car, minus the rear end.
06:03Got you. And when we're talking about new bits on the car,
06:06I think often people think you're the sister team of Red Bull,
06:09they just give you a load of parts, but you've got a full team,
06:12obviously back at base, that are working hard independently on this car.
06:15Absolutely, absolutely. We take what we can with the regulations.
06:20But all the aerodynamic side of it, 100% of the aerodynamic side of it,
06:26is developed in-house and made in-house as well. So yes, it's our car.
06:31Now I know there's reasonable stability within the regs,
06:34so maybe the chance to do something really cool with the car is a bit more tricky.
06:38But have you got any kind of really pieces you're particularly proud of,
06:41the team are particularly proud of, or particularly cool on there?
06:43I think the bit that caught my eye when I first saw the car is the floor and the floor edge.
06:47I think you can see there, it's pretty, it's like a work of art.
06:52And I hope that brings us some performance.
06:55How different is what we're going to see this weekend to what we saw in Bahrain?
06:59This is essentially the same car as we saw in Bahrain.
07:04We've got some front wing parts to test, but we also had those in Bahrain
07:08and we were playing with them there. But this is essentially the Bahrain car, yes.
07:12And from a development perspective going forward, I know it's the same for everyone,
07:15but you've got this balance between 2025 and 2026.
07:17Are we going to see maybe a little bit more development earlier in the year
07:20to turn the tops on the other way for next year?
07:22I'm very sure all teams will be doing that. Everyone will have a plan.
07:27I suspect after these first couple of races, those plans may change depending on where you are.
07:35If you expect to be eighth and you find yourself up third, you're going to change that plan.
07:40So everyone will have a development plan.
07:43Of course, there's a big incentive to get on to 2026 as quick as possible
07:47because the rate of development is so much higher than the rate on this car.
07:51So just finally, what is the mood in the team at the minute?
07:54Testing, I know, is always difficult to read and I'm not expecting you to give me a prediction,
07:58but do you feel like you're in the mix to go out and fight there this weekend?
08:01Absolutely, we do. You're right. It's incredibly difficult to predict.
08:08And to say you know your own performances, you really don't
08:13because you don't really care about your own performance.
08:15All you care about is your relative performance.
08:17So you need to know everyone else's performance as well.
08:20So we know what we did, we know what fuel loads we had, we know what engine modes we had.
08:24We don't want to know what everyone else has.
08:26We'll know a bit more this weekend, we'll know another load more after the next weekend.
08:30The mood is good though, the mood is good.
08:32Now I'm still fascinated by this racing bulls car and they've turned up in Melbourne
08:36with quite an interesting setup on the car in terms of the bodywork package fitted.
08:40You can see that when you look at the rear bodywork from behind.
08:43Now this may just look like another Formula One car to you when you look from behind the rear wing,
08:48but it's more about what you don't see in this picture.
08:51And I'm really struggling to see any cooling outlets on that rear bodywork.
08:56Now the cooling exit at the rear of the car is very, very small.
09:00You can see that as the car drives out of the final corner really clearly as it's going around the track.
09:05But when you look on the upper section of the bodywork, you'd expect to see some cooling louvres
09:09either on this section of the bodywork or somewhere around here on the centre of the engine cover.
09:13But they're just not there.
09:15Now this isn't down to the Honda power unit needing a bit less cooling than maybe some of the others,
09:19because when you take a look at the Red Bull, we've already taken a look at it,
09:22same angle, you can see these big cooling louvres opening on the rear bodywork.
09:26Red Bull also has some cooling slots just on the central spine.
09:29None of that present on the racing bull.
09:33And then that story gets a bit more interesting when you take a look at the rear wing.
09:37It looks quite skinny. It might be the angle of this image, but I don't know.
09:41It looks like quite a low downforce rear wing for the Melbourne circuit.
09:46And it just looks to me that maybe racing bulls have gone for a slightly different approach to the circuit
09:52compared to other teams. They've gone for maybe a lower drag setup.
09:56We're waiting to see some of the data to see how that plays out,
09:59and we'll update you in China not only what the setup is, but also whether it really works.
10:05So it's quite a different approach, as I say, from racing bulls.
10:08Now, staying on the subject of rear wings, you may notice in this shot quite a lot more optical contact across the rear wing.
10:16Those are these little target logos all over that rear wing.
10:20Lots more than we saw last season.
10:22Now, this is because one of the other changes for 2025, at the end of 2024,
10:28there was a bit of speculation about how some teams were using their rear wings in terms of
10:33were they flexing too much, were they deforming in particular ways to reduce drag at high speed.
10:38And it was originally reported that the FIA weren't going to take any additional action on rear wings.
10:45However, coming into this season, shortly before pre-season testing,
10:49it became clear that the FIA were going to take a slightly stronger look at what teams are doing with their rear wings.
10:56Hence additional optical contact.
10:58The FIA are going to be looking with some different cameras at how the rear wings are deforming at high speed
11:03and just trying to understand exactly what teams are doing with their wings.
11:07And I have heard some rumors in the paddock that there are some eyes scooting about on different people's rear wings,
11:13but usually that's just paddock chatter, because how long have we been talking about flexible wings in Formula One?
11:20Since the first wings were fitted to Formula One cars in 1968,
11:23have a look at Tech Talk Retro for a little bit more about that.
11:27You can find that elsewhere.
11:29Now, rear wings are still a topic, because when you start talking about the shape of the rear wing here for the racing bull,
11:37nearly called it an Alpha Tauri, you can see that they fitted a gurney along the trailing edge of the wing,
11:43suggesting that's a bit of dirty downforce, but it does work.
11:46A lot of teams are doing that approach.
11:48Are they running a bit of a lower wing angle than some of the other teams?
11:51Well, let's have a comparison. There's the racing bull.
11:54Let's compare to their sister team, Red Bull Racing.
11:57And have a look, you can see what I'm talking about here.
11:59It's quite a bigger dish, lower section.
12:02The main plane on the Red Bull looks a bit bigger here, very similar camera angle.
12:05And then the upper section, again, a gurney fitted to the central section of the flap, looks a bigger wing to me.
12:10When you look at that, compare it to this, I don't think it's an optical illusion, do you?
12:15It looks like racing bulls have got a simpler, lower drag rear wing on the car.
12:20And if you look on the outer edge, past the roll tip, look how flat that is.
12:23And then look at the tip of the flap. It looks to be one big single part.
12:28And I'm not sure it necessarily fully separates here.
12:30I think it probably has to by regulation because you've got a DRS flap there.
12:33But it does look like that flap there is just very much set, very flat.
12:38The wing tips are of particular interest compared to Red Bull.
12:42Now look how much more complex the Red Bull wing tips are.
12:45Very different in their shape, sharper leading edge, very sculpted outer element.
12:50Red Bull playing around there with the rear wing.
12:52That story, though, continues down the pit lane.
12:54Ferrari, they've introduced a new rear wing for the Australian Grand Prix.
12:58Quite a different main plane section.
13:00You can see it dipping down in the centre around the DRS pylon.
13:04And again, like Red Bull, they've got this extension.
13:06But unlike Red Bull, Ferrari's upper flap here, or the wing extension, does join the main plane fully.
13:13Not quite as extreme as Red Bull's, but pretty similar in overall concept.
13:18And as we work our way through the rear wings on the grid down to Mercedes,
13:22you can start to see some different variations on this thing.
13:25Now Mercedes's extension, Mercedeses, is a very different shape to Red Bull and also to Ferrari.
13:33Much bigger extension, picking up in a different location on the wing,
13:37with a larger cutout on the rear section there.
13:40Mercedes trying a slightly different direction.
13:42No big dip here, but again, much steeper wing than we saw on the racing bulls car.
13:48Perhaps a much steeper wing than we've seen on any of the other cars, actually.
13:51That could work with the multiple DRS zones that are on track around Melbourne.
13:56Could help the team in corners, bit more cornering force perhaps,
14:00compared to some of the other teams with high top speeds, but they get their top speeds in DRS.
14:04Maybe Mercedes not expecting to be at the front of the field, but fighting in the pack.
14:08We'll have to wait and see about that.
14:10Martin Martin, pretty similar story down there.
14:13And down at Alpine, well, perhaps a different sort of wing flexibility going on there.
14:18Or maybe it just got a little bit cold, not sure about that.
14:21Talking about some of the wings, Williams.
14:23They shocked everybody in pre-practice one, didn't they?
14:26Because that car was much quicker than anybody expected with Carlos Sainz at the wheel.
14:30Alex Albon wasn't particularly a slouch either.
14:33However, the Williams is an old car.
14:36Is it a case of the last of the old beats the first of the new?
14:39We'll have to wait and see how this car develops through.
14:41Some lovely little details on this car, which we highlighted before.
14:44Down here, this extra little winglet on the rear wing pylon.
14:47And then the trailing edge of the shark fin at the back of the bodywork.
14:51Really nice little details.
14:53Wonder if other teams will start to copy that.
14:55And then take a look at Sauber.
14:57Well, yeah, not many people are going to be looking at the back of the Sauber,
15:00looking at how the form is at the moment.
15:02Because it'll only be when their blue flags come out and they get lapped.
15:06Unless they find some pace with this car.
15:08I think it is quite an interesting design.
15:10And maybe we need to learn a little bit more about that.
15:12And speaking of learning a little bit more about the cars,
15:15there are quite a lot of details on the cars up and down the field.
15:18Mercedes, for example, I've noticed, have completely revised their exhaust layout this year.
15:22They've had the same exhaust layout for the last few seasons,
15:25but they've changed it this year.
15:27Have they slightly relocated the turbocharger?
15:29Has the change to the rear suspension they introduced a little while ago?
15:32Has that changed their routing of some of the parts?
15:35Has the change to the cooling system meant that they need to change the positions of the exhaust?
15:40There are still so many questions that remain unanswered in Formula One 2025.
15:45But this is just race one.
15:47And there's so much more to learn.
15:49And we're going to be learning it right here on Tech Talk.