Newey to finish RB17 hypercar before leaving Red Bull

The Red Bull RB17 will be revealed later this year, and Formula 1 design legend Adrian Newey will stay at Milton Keynes to "focus on final development and delivery" of the hypercar.

Powered by a mild-hybrid V10 engine producing an eye-watering 1250bhp, the RB17 has been described by Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) CEO Christian Horner as “Newey unleashed”.

It will now become Newey's primary focus following his decision to immediately step back from Formula 1 design duties and leave Red Bull altogether in early 2025.

Newey will "remain involved in and committed to this exciting project until its completion", Red Bull said in a statement on Wednesday.

The 65-year-old had long wished to build a car unfettered by sporting regulations or road car legislation, hence RBAT's latest in-house project.

Due for delivery in 2025, the RB17 has been designed with a minimum of compromises and is aimed primarily at track-day applications.

Horner previously told Autocar that the closed-roof hypercar could be made road-legal should owners wish to convert them to meet local traffic regulations.

A limited production run of 50 units, built at the rate of 15 per year, is planned. Most of them have already been sold.

The RB17 is said to be a natural progression from the Newey-designed Aston Martin Valkyrie, which is now with customers after a lengthy gestation.

Asked how the RB17 came about, Horner told Autocar: “Adrian wanted to do a car [for us] back in 2014, and at that point in time, we found a route through that by doing all the design work for the Valkyrie in partnership with Aston Martin.

“[The] Valkyrie is a stunning vehicle and I’m sure it will be a great success, but you’re always learning, whether in Formula 1 or on the advanced technologies side.

“[RBAT] has now existed for close to eight years, and there’s an awful lot of knowledge that has been built up in that time. With the budget cap era [in F1], if you want to retain resources there have to be projects that can justify their existence. This is a perfect project utilising the skill sets that we have, so it will complement our Formula 1 activities rather than distract from them.”

According to RBAT technical director Rob Gray, the hypercar will be predominantly manufactured in-house, with items such as glass and gear clusters outsourced.

Gray said: “There’s a lot in common between this car and the Formula 1 car in terms of the general engineering principles used to design it. Most of this car, the core, we are capable of building in-house. That’s why we have such a low volume target.

“We know how to build low-volume vehicles. We don’t want to do mass production.”

Gray added that the hybrid unit’s power contribution will be “significant”, indicating that regenerated energy will run to around 150bhp. “We want to use the hybrid to complement the internal combustion engine, rather than dominate it.”

Horner said: “It will sound fantastic, like a track car should.” He declined to reveal powertrain details but said the power unit will be produced to “our specification by a third party”, not by the nascent Red Bull Powertrains division, currently gearing up for a post-2025 F1 power unit.

Asked if the RB17 was the first step towards Red Bull becoming a fully fledged road car manufacturer, Horner said: “It’s the start of a journey. It’s an interesting starting point for us. You can never say ‘never’, but certainly this is a halo project for us.”

As the most innovative F1 designer of his generation, one with 10 constructor championship titles across three teams to his name, Newey introduced various novelties to the sport.

Asked if the RB17 will feature Newey specialities such as a ‘blown diffuser’, Gray said: “We internally sometimes refer to [the RB17] as ‘Adrian’s greatest hits’. There’s a lot of things that people will recognise… He’s constantly innovated on [this] vehicle and he’s involved in pretty much every aspect of design and engineering.

“Everyone looks at Adrian as an aerodynamicist by trade, but he’s also involved in everything from wheels, tyres, suspension, brakes, all the way through to engine.”

In a subsequent interview Newey expanded on the list, telling Autocar, “It will be a skirted car, so flexible skirts - because we can – and clearly large ground effect tunnels, active suspension as it could be driven on circuits that aren't as smooth as [F1 tracks] and we’re trying to avoid having very stiff suspension.“It will also have exhaust blowing, all the tricks that we’ve learned [in F1], in other words.”

Newey further clarified that the power unit will be twin-turbo V8, with the energy recovery system primarily providing a torque “fill” and reducing throttle lag under acceleration.

Newey said the power unit will be a twin-turbo V8, with the energy recovery system (ERS) primarily providing torque fill and reducing throttle lag under acceleration. “[ERS] also helps in other areas, which I don’t really want to go into at the moment,” he said, smiling.

Horner estimated that the RB17 will cost around £5 million plus applicable taxes.

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