► RB17 will use V8-hybrid with 1100bhp
► Red Bull says just 50 will be built, deliveries in 2025
► £5million plus taxes
After a relatively quiet 2023 (in road car news at least) Red Bull has finally provided more details on its as yet unseen RB17 hypercar, with team boss Christian Horner stating it’ll be revealed later this year. Deliveries are scheduled to begin the year after.
So it’s happening?
Yes! Speaking to Sky Sports, Horner confirmed the release date of the new car, whilst also describing it as ‘Adrian Newey unleashed.’ Unlike the Valkyrie project which was designed with hypercar rules in mind, then not, and now again – the RB17 has been designed with no motorsport-focused constraints.
‘What is great, as well, is that we have such great strength in depth in our technical team,’ Horner said to Sky. ‘Adrian with his wealth of experience is able to mentor and develop that team – as well as designing the RB17 our first ever track sportscar which will be unveiled in 2024.’
RB17: what you need to know
Rather than the race team, the two-seat hypercar will be produced by Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the engineering arm of the company. Despite that, it’ll be designed by F1 legend Adrian Newey, who is currently the chief technical officer of the Oracle Red Bull Racing team.
‘The RB17 marks an important milestone in the evolution of Red Bull Advanced Technologies, now fully capable of creating and manufacturing a series production car at our Red Bull Technology Campus,’ said Christian Horner, team principal of the F1 team. ‘Further, the RB17 marks the first time that a car wearing the Red Bull brand has been available to collectors.’
Newey, again?
This isn’t the first hypercar the Red Bull designer has penned; Newey played a key role in the design of the Aston Martin Valkyrie, another hypercar conceived when Aston Martin and Red Bull were partners.
The only image so far shows an extremely streamlined car – like the Aston – and Red Bull has confirmed the RB17 will use a carbon-composite tub. Interestingly the car will also generate the majority of its downforce from a sophisticated ground-effect package.
‘The RB17 distils everything we know about creating championship-winning Formula One cars into a package that delivers extreme levels of performance in a two-seat track car,’ said Newey. ‘Driven by our passion for performance at every level, the RB17 pushes design and technical boundaries far beyond what has been previously available to enthusiasts and collectors.’
How’s it powered?
Rather than a V12 like the Valkyrie or a V6-hybrid like the F1-derived Mercedes AMG-One, the RB17 will use a V8-hybrid engine developing over 1100bhp.
Only 50 will be made, at a cost of £5 million plus local taxes. However, that’ll include a bespoke package which involves access to simulators, vehicle program development and on-track training and experiences. Servicing and other maintenance will also be handled by the factory.
The project could be seen as a response to Formula One’s newly-enforced budget cap for two reasons: in addition to securing existing jobs and creating more, it could also provide vital learnings on ground-effect, a phenomenon that’ll be a key performance differentiator in forthcoming F1 championships.
Interest from the FIA
A report from AMuS last year suggested Milton Keynes’ forthcoming hypercar project was under an FIA microscope, with the interest stemming from a new push to close possible loopholes in Formula One – some of which could sidestep the new budget cap.
According to the report from AMuS’ Michael Schmidt, high-end hypercar projects such as the RB17 could potentially allow teams to conduct F1-related R&D outside their F1 operations – and therefore outside the cap. Both the Red Bull RB17 and the Aston Martin Valkyrie were in the FIA’s crosshairs, and AMuS’ article suggest the governing body is looking at both closely.
At the time hypercars such as the RB17 and Aston Martin Valkryie (before the Le Mans news) didn’t have to subscribe to any type of regulations and could therefore freely be used to research any type of floor or aerodynamic development. Compare that to Ferrari’s Le Mans-winning 499P Hypercar for example, which has to subscribe to the WEC’s Hypercar rules and you’ll see the benefit. As AMuS reports (via Google Translate) ‘it would be noticeable if Ferrari screwed an underbody under its 499P for testing purposes that looks similar to the SF-23.’
As you’d expect, AMuS reported both Aston Martin and Red Bull maintained the transfer of information is one-way; from F1 to the road. The Mercedes AMG One did not feature in the AMuS report, perhaps because of its reduced focus on ground-effect downforce, a key aspect of the new 2022 F1 rules.