The car that delivered a first championship since 2013, the Red Bull Racing Honda RB16B was an evolution of the double race winning RB16 of the 2020 season. Piloted by Dutch favourite Max Verstappen, in his sixth year with the team, and Mexican Sergio Pérez, who joined from Racing Point, the RB16B proved its mettle, taking the fight to the hybrid-era dominating Mercedes team. Though the team would ultimately be unsuccessful in its Constructors’ title aspirations, Verstappen emerged victorious against the reigning Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton in an intense season-long battle that came down to the final lap at the final race in Abu Dhabi. It was a season filled with drama, on-track action and controversy, in which Verstappen was ultimately crowned the first Dutch World Champion.
The RB16B was based on the same chassis as the 2020 car, as dictated by the 2021 regulations after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted teams to agree to a series of cost-reducing measures, including a postponement of the new regulations and a majority freeze of the current rules. However, though the car shared its name and under-structure with the previous season’s car, the team had made general refinements in every component. Aerodynamic improvements were visible on the nose, the car featured new brake ducts for the front discs, and the bargeboards had undergone further development. The car’s floor was reduced by about 100mm towards the rear, as per the regulations. Much of the interest about the Red Bull was focused on the rear of the car, with the team having spent its two development tokens adjusting its gearbox carrier and rear suspension, to improve the car’s aerodynamics at the rear end, something of particular importance with the regulation changes made to reduce downforce. The only major difference that could be seen with the naked eye on the rear wing was a new single central pylon support. The 2020 RB16 broke Red Bull tradition with a double-supported rear wing, but with the RB16B the team returned to a more familiar concept.
