diff --git a/repo2docker/buildpacks/r.py b/repo2docker/buildpacks/r.py
index 2df72982..fd1d1a3e 100644
--- a/repo2docker/buildpacks/r.py
+++ b/repo2docker/buildpacks/r.py
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ class RBuildPack(PythonBuildPack):
             "3.6.1": "3.6.1-3bionic",
             "4.0": "4.0.2-1.1804.0",
             "4.0.2": "4.0.2-1.1804.0",
+            "4.1": "4.1.2-1.1804.0",
         }
         # the default if nothing is specified
         r_version = "3.6"
diff --git a/tests/r/r4/runtime.txt b/tests/r/r4/runtime.txt
index e0b26306..2beef50f 100644
--- a/tests/r/r4/runtime.txt
+++ b/tests/r/r4/runtime.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-r-4.0-2020-07-07
+r-4.1-2021-07-07
diff --git a/tests/r/r4/verify b/tests/r/r4/verify
index 6d28082b..d2075f9e 100755
--- a/tests/r/r4/verify
+++ b/tests/r/r4/verify
@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@
 library('ggplot2')
 
 print(version)
-if (version$major != "4") {
+if (version$major != "4" and as.double(version$minor) >= 1) {
   quit("yes", 1)
 }