
While the F1 2025 season is still several weeks away, there’s plenty of pre-season hype to get you excited about the action we’re set to witness this year — starting with plenty of pre-season tests.
Racing Bulls teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar are expected to be at Imola with the AlphaTauri AT04 as part of RB’s Testing of a Previous Car (TPC) program.
Racing Bulls to hit the track in Imola
Pre-season testing is just over a month away, with the start of the Formula 1 season taking place a few weeks after that, but plenty of F1 teams are already kicking into gear before the season comes to a head.
Teams like Ferrari intend to get a head start on the racing season by fielding Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in older technology, largely in a bid to get Hamilton comfortable with the team’s technology.
With so many young drivers joining the F1 scene for the first time this year, and so many other drivers swapping teams, it makes sense that many F1 outfits are looking to make the most of their TPC programs to help those drivers get acquainted with an older version of the team tech.
While testing with contemporary F1 cars is strictly forbidden outside of sanctioned tests hosted by the series, the TPC program allows teams to utilize their outdated technology on the track. No modern updates are allowed, and the FIA must have 72 hours’ notice before the test — but said testing is not overly restricted by the FIA.
More on car launches and TPC programs:
👉 F1 2025 car launches: When is each new car launched ahead of the new season?
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Critically, the TPC program gives those young drivers a chance to experience F1 technology and begin to understand how they handle the nuance of a high-powered machine.
Racing Bulls — the team that formerly did business as VCARB, AlphaTauri, and Toro Rosso — will be utilizing a 2023 AlphaTauri AT04 during a three-day test at Imola. Drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar will alternate behind the wheel; this will be critical testing time for Hadjar before his official F1 debut in March.
This is the final expected test for RB until mid-February. On the 17th, the team has booked a filming day with its fresh VCARB02 machine. The car will be utilizing a camouflage livery, with the official scheme being debuted at the full-grid launch the following day.
While some teams like Haas have elected to schedule their own livery launches independent of this full-field launch, RB have opted to join the likes of Mercedes in debuting their livery during that presentation at the O2 Center.
The full-field launch is designed to be a celebration of Formula 1’s 75th anniversary as a season-long World Championship.
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