TECH WEEKLY: Why Red Bull's new upgrades failed to perform in Mexico

Mark Hughes and illustrator Giorgio Piola explain the upgrades Red Bull brought to Mexico City and why they fell short of beating McLaren and Lando Norris.

Oct 28, 2025 9:49am UTC

Technical ContributorsMark Hughes and Giorgio Piola

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 25: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull

Fighting to keep Max Verstappen in Drivers' Championship contention, Red Bull has continued with its aggressive development of the RB21 long after their rivals devoted themselves fully to their 2026 cars. But how did the new upgrades perform in Mexico City?

The team turned up with a further developed version of the floor introduced at Monza just four races earlier. The floor is not totally new but just adopted from the one introduced at Monza, as explained by trackside engineering chief Paul Monaghan.

“It's a ‘make-from’," he said. "So it's a previous floor that we've managed to recycle because it was sufficiently modular, to get it here.”