Red Bull Ready for Development Race Over 2025, Horner Says 

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 15, 2025 Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before practice. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 15, 2025 Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before practice. (Reuters)
TT

Red Bull Ready for Development Race Over 2025, Horner Says 

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 15, 2025 Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before practice. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 15, 2025 Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before practice. (Reuters)

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said on Friday he was primed for a "development race" between Formula One's top teams ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, singling out McLaren's 2025 challenger as "the car to beat".

The Milton Keynes-based outfit dominated the sport over the first two years after the most recent regulations change in 2022 - which saw a return to ground-effect cars - as other teams struggled to get to grips with generating downforce by passing air underneath their cars instead of through wings on top of them.

But the pack has tightened up significantly since then, with McLaren overcoming a 115-point deficit to Red Bull after the first six races of 2024 and winning the constructors' championship.

The team in papaya has already established itself as the title favorite for 2025.

"It's of course now a development race between now and Abu Dhabi in December," Horner told a news conference as he sat next to McLaren team boss Zak Brown. "It's going to be a nine-month marathon of a season."

"From what we saw in Melbourne, if the racing is like that all the way through, it could be a bumper year," he added.

McLaren's Lando Norris won last week's Australian Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull's reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, who told reporters on Thursday he considered McLaren to be "quite far ahead," after finishing around nine tenths of a second behind the 25-year-old British driver in the first race of the season.

"Inevitably, it depends how the championship plays out, but you've got to keep pushing," Horner said, when asked whether Red Bull would need to keep developing their car through to the last race in Abu Dhabi to win the constructors' crown in 2025.

"In this business, if you're standing still, you're going backwards," he added.

The rules reset presents a dilemma for the teams, who are also constrained by a cost cap: Commit resources to developing this year's car to try and win in 2025 or focus on next year, when new aerodynamics and engine specifications could reshuffle the pecking order.

From 2026, the cars will be smaller, 30kg lighter, feature active aerodynamics and a manual override system, and have simpler hybrid power units with an even split between internal combustion and electric.

"It's one race, in tricky conditions, so let's see how things play out over the next few races," McLaren's Brown said, referring to Melbourne's rain-struck race last weekend. "I don't think we've seen the final line-up yet."



Brazil Signs Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti 1 Year Ahead of 2026 World Cup

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Brazil Signs Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti 1 Year Ahead of 2026 World Cup

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will leave the Spanish club and take over as coach of Brazil’s national team, the Brazilian soccer federation said Monday.

The 65-year-old Ancelotti, who will be Brazil's first full-time foreign coach in a century, is still under contract with Madrid. The last round of the Spanish league will be on May 25 and the CBF said in a statement that he will officially take over Brazil the following day.

“Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil is more than a strategic movement. It is a statement to the world that we are determined to recover the top of the podium,” CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues said in a statement. “He is the greatest coach in history and, now, he will be with the greatest national team on the planet. Together, we will write new glorious chapters of Brazilian soccer.”

Rodrigues said Ancelotti will take charge of Brazil’s next two fixtures in South American World Cup qualifying, with his debut at Ecuador on June 5th and five days later in front of home fans against Paraguay in Sao Paulo.

Ancelotti's contract with Madrid ends next year but is expected to be terminated early.

He will replace Dorival Júnior, who held the job for 14 months and was fired in March after a 4-1 defeat at Argentina. Brazil lags in 4th position in World Cup qualifying after 14 matches and has its 33-year-old star Neymar still in difficulties to return to top form after an ACL injury in 2023. The top six teams will secure direct spots in next year’s tournament.

Ancelotti leaves Madrid after a frustrating season in which the team did not defend its European title and saw rival Barcelona win the Copa del Rey and get close to securing the league title after a 4-3 victory over Madrid on Sunday.

The Italian coach and Real Madrid are yet to comment on CBF's announcement.

BRAZIL'S WAIT

Ancelotti's signing ends a turbulent time on Brazil’s bench since Tite left after the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals elimination against Croatia. Under-20 coach Ramon Menezes and Fluminense coach Fernando Diniz took charge for several matches as Rodriguez sought Ancelotti to become coach.

Menezes and Diniz both fared poorly, and Ancelotti extended his deal with Madrid during that span. Dorival Júnior was then chosen in 2024 to take the team to the World Cup, but he was also fired after the same lack of success and unimpressive performances.

Al-Hilal coach Jorge Jesus, a 70-year-old Portuguese who won several titles with Brazil’s Flamengo in 2019, was the favorite to take the Brazil job until Madrid was knocked out of the Champions League by Arsenal earlier in April.

Brazil will be Ancelotti’s first international experience as full-time coach. He was an assistant to Arrigo Sacchi in the 1994 World Cup as Italy lost to Brazil in the final on penalties.

That ended a 24-year World Cup title drought for Brazil, the same time frame it will face next year in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Ancelotti, who won Serie A titles as a player with Roma and AC Milan plus two European titles with the latter as a creative midfielder, started his full-time coaching career in 1995 at Italy's Reggiana.

He's also coached Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton, winning titles in Italy, England, Spain, France and Germany.

He twice won the Champions League with Milan 2003 and 2007, and added three more titles with Real Madrid in 2014, 2022 and last year.

Ancelotti will be only the second foreign coach to take Brazil into an international tournament.

The first was Uruguayan Ramón Platero, who coached Brazil in the 1925 South American championship, the predecessor of the current Copa America. He was on the job for 19 days and four matches of a round-robin competition with Paraguay and Argentina, with two wins, one loss and one draw in the final with Argentina, who lifted the title.

Portuguese coach Jorge Gomes de Lima, known as Joreca, shared Brazil’s coach position with local Flavio Costa in two friendly victories over Uruguay in 1944.

And in 1965 Argentine coach Filpo Nuñez coached Brazil for one day. Nuñez was Palmeiras’ coach, and Brazil’s soccer body chose the Sao Paulo-based club to play with national team shirts in a friendly against Uruguay in the opening of the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte. The hosts won 3-0.

MADRID'S FUTURE

The announcement of Ancelotti’s departure came a day after Madrid lost its fourth straight match to Barcelona this season, falling seven points behind the Catalan rival with three rounds remaining.

Former player Xabi Alonso is widely expected to take over the club’s helm after he confirmed his departure from Bayer Leverkusen.

Alonso led Leverkusen to an unprecedented German league and cup double last year in his first full season after taking over the team when it was in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone the season before. He starred as a player as Madrid won a Spanish league title in 2012 and the 2014 Champions League before leaving for three Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich.

Madrid still has to play in the upcoming Club World Cup beginning next month.