Racing Bulls Confident in VCARB Progress Despite Bahrain Setback, Says Permane

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – April 18, 2025

Racing Bulls VCARB Chief Race Engineer Alan Permane says the team is “happy” with its car’s development so far this season, calling the current package “benign” and easy for drivers to extract performance from — even as the team looks to recover from a challenging Bahrain Grand Prix.

Speaking during Friday’s official FIA Show & Tell session in Jeddah, Permane noted the team had found a sweet spot between peak downforce and drivability in its 2025 car design.

“We knew after Bahrain the car was decent. We didn’t quite know it was as good as it turned out to be in Melbourne and certainly Shanghai,” said Permane. “There’s always a trade-off between peak downforce and drivability… We’ve hit a sweet spot.”

Despite a solid start to the year, VCARB’s form dipped at the season opener in Bahrain, which Permane described as an outlier.

“Absolutely, yes — Bahrain was the anomaly,” he said. “Suzuka, the car was phenomenal. The track surface in Bahrain is a complete outlier for the rest of the season. Maybe that caused some of the issues.”

Permane acknowledged that while multiple factors played a role in the Bahrain struggles, including inexperience and a difficult opening stint, a series of small setup missteps also contributed.

“It’s not one thing, that’s for sure… We’ve seen two or three areas where we could have been a little better, and those added up.”

The car’s performance window is proving accessible, particularly in medium-speed corners — a factor that has helped the team’s rookie driver settle in quickly.

“Medium speed is always perfect — you rarely hear that from a driver,” Permane noted. “After he’s put it in the top ten, he’s saying, ‘Wow, that was amazing.’”

Permane praised the new generation of F1 rookies as highly prepared, crediting advanced simulators and more professional junior categories.

“The whole level of professionalism is high,” he said. “They already have a decent understanding of tires and dynamics before even arriving.”

Looking ahead, Permane said the stable regulations have led to incremental development gains, making progress more difficult for leading teams while allowing midfield contenders to catch up.

“It’s more difficult extracting performance now… the grid gets more compact. That’s a happy accident of stable regulations.”

While VCARB brought new wings for Jeddah, Permane admitted there’s little performance difference compared to last year’s spec.

“They’re a little bit better. If we put last year’s wings on, we’d go a little slower — but it’s very small margins.”

Finally, Permane reaffirmed that the team’s focus remains on extracting grip across all speed ranges — particularly low-speed corners — while maintaining stability.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve got a car with an instability problem,” he said. “We’re happy with the car and balance. You always want more grip, of course.”

With Jeddah’s high-speed demands on deck, Racing Bulls aims to show that Bahrain was merely a misstep in an otherwise promising campaign.