Red Bull had to deal with a coolant leak in Bahrain on Thursday and completed the fewest laps, but Helmut Marko is not yet worried
The second day of testing in Bahrain ahead of the 2025 Formula 1 season did not go smoothly for Red Bull. While Max Verstappen took a break, Liam Lawson spent the whole day in the RB21. However, the team was unable to complete its planned program. In addition to rain, a technical problem caused delays.
“We were a bit handicapped by the rain and couldn’t complete all our programs,” explained Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko after Thursday. “But it was a normal day of testing and we went through various programs.”
The bigger problem, however, was a technical defect that occurred in the morning. “One of the coolers had a leak,” Marko confirmed. This meant that Red Bull had to keep the car in the garage for a long time, losing valuable test time. “I would say it cost us at least 40 minutes.”
The problem meant that Lawson was unable to complete the entire planned program – a disadvantage for the New Zealander, who still has to find his feet in the team. “It would have been better to get through without these problems, but we made the best of it,” said Marko. “Basically, we are on schedule.”
Fewest laps of all teams
The newcomer had only been able to complete 28 laps in the morning, but added another 63 in the afternoon, bringing the total to 91 by the end of the day. That was the fewest of all ten teams, and even fewer than Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar managed on his half-day of training.
Taking it a bit wide there, Liam! F1Testing F1 pic.twitter.com/RsWBPhZ3Ro
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 27, 2025
Lawson himself views the day as instructive, even if not everything went according to plan: “I’m getting more and more comfortable in the car, it was a busy day overall,” he says. “As is often the case with test drives, we had a few teething problems with the car that we had to get under control during the day.”
“Some of our runs were cut short and the weather didn’t play ball either – not ideal for our program, but it seems most teams experienced that,” said Lawson. ‘Still, it was all extremely valuable for Melbourne and we feel well prepared.’
Marko still the cool head
Despite the difficulties, Red Bull remains calm because the positive impressions from the first day of testing remain: “Yes, our findings from yesterday about the car are still valid,” clarifies Marko.
Rival Ferrari were much stronger on Thursday than they were on Wednesday, but Marko is not worried: “They looked very competitive today,” he says, “but Max didn’t drive, for example, and we had this problem with the radiator that cost us a lot of time.”
Red Bull’s technical director Pierre Wache emphasizes that the test day was valuable for Lawson despite all the adversity: “We decided to give Liam a full day’s work today to prepare him for the season,” he says.
“Unfortunately, the conditions in the morning with some rain were not ideal, so we decided to do a race simulation to get him used to long runs and check the overall reliability over a race distance,” said Wache.
Test for Lawson completed
“In the afternoon, we wanted to understand the car with the C3 tire and various set-up options. Our goal was to get a complete picture of the car and identify the right direction, but in these conditions it was difficult to accurately assess performance or generate enough tire temperature.”
“Nevertheless, Liam responded well today and his feedback was very close to Max’s. We now have a good basis for the last day of testing with Max in the car.”
On the last day of testing before the start of the season, Red Bull now wants to work through as many of the open points as possible. ‘Of course, everything we’ve learned today will be incorporated into tomorrow’s program,’ Marko announces. Then Verstappen will get back in the car to prepare the final setup for the start of the season in Melbourne.
For Lawson, on the other hand, the test drives before his grand prix debut at Red Bull are over. “This will be the last time I drive the car before Melbourne,” he says. “Now it’s about using everything I’ve learned to find the best possible set-up for the first race.”
