Newey to finish RB17 hypercar before leaving Red Bull

The Red Bull RB17, the firm’s first-ever bespoke hypercar, will be revealed later this year and Formula 1 design guru Adrian Newey will stay at the firm to "focus on final development and delivery" of the hotly anticipated project.  Powered by a mild hybrid V8 engine producing an eye-watering 1250bhp, a reveal for the RB17 was confirmed by team principal, CEO of Red Bull Racing and its Advanced Technologies offshoot Christian Horner at the start of the year in an interview with Sky Sports.  It’s been described by Horner as “Adrian Newey unleashed”. The hypercar will now become the former Red Bull design guru’s primary focus following his decision to immediately step back from Formula 1 duties, and leave Red Bull altogether in early 2025.  Related articles Newey will "remain involved in and committed to this exciting project until its completion", it was revealed in an official Red Bull statement on Wednesday.  The Formula 1 superstar designer 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 car has been designed with a minimum of compromises and is aimed primarily at track-day applications. In a separate interview, Horner previously told Autocar that the closed-roof vehicle 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 are already sold. The car is formally known as RB17 – a tag that fills a gap in Red Bull’s F1 car naming strategy after that number was skipped due to changes to regulations under Covid. The RB18 is the car for the 2024 season. The RB17 is said to be a natural progression from the Newey-designed road-going Aston Martin Valkyrie, currently in the early stages of delivery to customers after a lengthy gestation.