Racing Bulls Bringing Major Upgrades to Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

The Racing Bulls Formula 1 team is set to introduce a significant upgrade package at this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. However, the potential gains may not be as substantial as they appear.

New Floor and Bodywork Upgrades Unveiled

For its home race, Racing Bulls has prepared a new floor and bodywork, working tirelessly until the last minute before transporting the cars from Faenza to Imola. This marks the team’s first major upgrade of the 2025 season, with most teams rolling out new parts this weekend.

The floor and bodywork are the two largest aerodynamic surfaces on the car, with the former playing a crucial role in overall performance. Despite the impressive sounding upgrades, Racing Bulls has been careful not to make too many changes at once, learning from last year’s mistakes when a significant Barcelona upgrade actually slowed down the VCARB 01.

At this stage of the current rules cycle, these new components are unlikely to bring revolutionary benefits. However, even small improvements can make a significant difference in the tightest ever midfield grid, with one or two tenths potentially deciding between Q1 and Q3 on Saturday.

Balancing Progress and Caution

Over the first six race weekends, Racing Bulls has found itself on both sides of the midfield equation, scoring seven points across the China and Japan weekends, but only adding one point since then in Saudi Arabia, keeping it down in eighth.

There is no large step anymore, not in our world and I hope not for the other guys either,” Mekies grinned. “It’s all small steps. And the first of these small steps will be introduced in Imola, with a few more smaller steps coming from now to race seven, eight, nine, 10, and then I think the flow will naturally slow down after that.

Going step by step is the only way to have some confidence that you are not breaking everything. On the other hand, every week a tenth can decide between P12 and P6 in qualifying, creating a conflicting motivation. “You are dying for that next step, but if you go too far, you are going to break it and it’s going to hurt,” Mekies warned.

Assessing Performance at the Spanish GP

Mekies identified the Spanish GP as a crucial weekend to assess whether it is worth pushing on further with 2025 or switching its full focus to 2026, with the latest clampdown on flexing front wings potentially affecting the pecking order. “I suppose everybody wants to see the Barcelona situation,” he said of the Spanish GP, which takes place on 1 June. “We will regroup after Barcelona, assess where our performance is, assess what the potential is that we can still extract from the current car concept, and try to balance that versus the rate of improvement for 2026.

The bias at the moment is still on ’25 but we will assess after Barcelona how we need to alter that, and I don’t think it’s very different to most teams.