Secretive images have supplied a clue into Purple Bull’s drawback in Thursday’s F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Liam Lawson’s RB21 brought on a commotion when it returned to the storage however the precise concern was unclear.
Nonetheless, F1 tech skilled Sam Collins thinks he has uncovered the reality.
“I’ve been spending lots of time watching lots of photographs of the Purple Bull,” he stated on Sky Sports activities.
“On the finish of [Wednesday] I felt like they didn’t perceive the automobile. If somebody got here to me and stated ‘that’s the automobile they raced on the finish of final 12 months’, I might wrestle to disagree.
“Nonetheless, I’ve heard on the grapevine that the problem Purple Bull confronted earlier on was a water stress concern.”
Images supply clue about Purple Bull RB21
Purple Bull
“I’ve seen some photographs,” Collins continued. “Sadly I can’t share them with you.
“However the photographs I’ve seen make it clear what’s totally different about this 12 months’s Purple Bull.
“Whereas it appears actually related, on the pores and skin, Christian Horner says it’s 99% new and each floor is totally different.
“That’s completely proper – the extra you take a look at the photographs, the extra you see the little variations on the automobile.
“Each form is barely totally different.
“A producer yesterday identified the angle of the entrance wing endplates is barely extra inward-facing, they level towards the nostril greater than they did in Abu Dhabi final 12 months.
“The idea is similar – the pull rod entrance suspension, the push rod rear.
“That’s an idea that’s transferring in the direction of being common for this technology of automobiles. Until you converse Italian and you reside in Maranello the place they selected to do one thing totally different.
“Even Mercedes would have advanced in the direction of that idea if these guidelines stayed in place longer.
“Everyone copied Purple Bull’s sidepod idea. You possibly can see the protruding higher edge, the vertical cooling slot, the horizontal cooling slot. That’s a pure Purple Bull design.
“However the place the large variations are with the Purple Bull are beneath the bodywork.
“The water stress is, I believe, pertains to the truth that they’re operating a totally new cooling system on the automobile.
“They’ve moved the radiators and warmth exchanges round.
“On the sidepods is a particular horizontal V-shape which I first noticed on Ferrari-powered automobiles in 2016.
“That idea has carried via to this Purple Bull after a few years of probably not being current in System 1.
“So the water stress concern, with a brand new cooling system, most likely suggests one thing may not be designed proper, or perhaps a little bit of pipework is chafing, or it’s not as effectively manufactured appropriately.
“Or might or not it’s the age-old drawback of finger bother, the place any person hasn’t bolted one thing on as tightly as they need to have.
“That’s why you go testing – to search out these issues.
“However the automobile idea itself appears much like final 12 months.
“The aerodynamic mind energy of Purple Bull would have been devoted to this automobile till January 2. They weren’t allowed to work on the 2026 automobile till that date.
“After that date? I don’t understand how a lot goes into subsequent 12 months’s Purple Bull, and the way a lot goes into this 12 months’s Purple Bull and its cooling system.”
At first look, the RB21 which broke cowl in 2025 didn’t seem to look considerably totally different to its predecessor.
However Purple Bull boss Horner has identified that final 12 months’s automobile received extra races than anyone regardless of the crew conceding the constructors’ championship to McLaren.
Now with Lawson racing as an alternative of Sergio Perez, Purple Bull hope their new driver could make a distinction.
Max Verstappen was unable to supply a lot suggestions (he didn’t drive in testing till Thursday) however his need will probably be for a automobile which is much less unpredictable than final 12 months’s RB20.
Verstappen is gunning for a fifth drivers’ title in a row.
