Racing Bulls clarify ‘easy to drive’ claim which Max Verstappen spotted

Racing Bulls has moved to explain comments from its Formula 1 drivers describing its 2025 challenger as “easy to drive.”

While Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson have all repeatedly complained about the Red Bull RB21 being difficult to tame, feedback on the VCARB 02 from Red Bull’s sister team has been markedly different.

Lawson, who has raced both the RB21 and VCARB 02 this year, is one of those who have commented about the stark contrast between the two F1 cars.

Even Verstappen said “that car is easier to drive than ours” when discussion Lawson’s early struggles at Red Bull in March prior to his demotion to Racing Bulls at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Is Racing Bulls' car 'easy to drive?'

However, newly-elected Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has explained that the VCARB 02 is designed in such a way that the engineers can easily get it in the right performance window.

While not inherently easier to drive, it is more often run at the optimum performance level, giving drivers a better feel behind the wheel.

“Much has been made of it being an easy car to drive,” he explained. “A lot of people have spoken about that and they see how the drivers cope with it. 

“But actually, what I think it is, is that it's an easy car for the engineers to get in the optimum window aerodynamically.

“We can do what we need to do with the setup and extract the most from it, which just gives us performance.”

Racing Bull 'works well everywhere'

Racing Bulls is currently locked in a tight battle for sixth in the championship with Aston Martin and Sauber, with the three teams separated by just six points during the summer break.

Rookie Isack Hadjar achieved a best finish of sixth in the Monaco GP, with his teammate Lawson matching that result in Austria in June.

Permane said the VCARB 02 is a versatile car that suits a wide variety of circuits.

“It worked well in Spa, it's worked well here [in Hungary], it's worked well at a range of tracks,” he said.

“Barcelona, it really was great. Austria was very good. No, it seems pretty happy anywhere.”