The Red Bull RB17 Is ‘The Ultimate Car’

“This is basically Adrian off the [leash], no FIA regulations, no cost cap—which it’s why it’s f***ing expensive—but it is the ultimate car, it really is an incredible car,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, before unveiling the RB17. 

Adrian is, of course, Adrian Newey, the most successful designer in Formula 1 history. The RB17 is his follow-up to the Aston Martin Valkyrie, a track-only hypercar that promises to be quicker around some tracks than a current F1 car. At Goodwood, Motor1 had the opportunity to speak to Newey, Horner, and Rob Gray, the head of Red Bull Advanced Technology.

“I’ve been very lucky over the years to have driven lots of different cars from classic 60s cars through to relatively modern Formula 1 cars,” Newey said in a media roundtable at the RB17 launch. “And don’t get me wrong, I love driving the classics, I hugely enjoy it, but you drive a modern Formula 1 car, the excitement, the speed, the adrenaline and so forth is on a different level.”

So, Newey wanted F1 thrills, but in a package accessible to everyone from amateurs with a bit of track experience, to a Max Verstappen-type. That requires huge power, huge downforce, minimal weight, and a package resembling an F1 car with more bodywork. The engine is a bespoke 4.5-liter, 15,000-rpm Cosworth V-10 making 1,000 horsepower supplemented by a 200-hp electric motor. Downforce maxes out at 3,747 pounds, and the targeted weight is just under 2,000 pounds. But, this is also a car that in Newey’s words is “incredibly adaptable.” 

Adaptability comes from active aerodynamic and suspension systems that provide huge control over the handling balance of the car. Plus, there are engine modes so drivers can work up to the full 1,200 horsepower, adjustable ABS and differential, and traction control. 

“You can effectively set the car up—and this can be done from the cockpit, not having to plug a laptop in—either slightly on the understeer side, certainly neutral, but not snappy,” Gray told Motor1. “It’s a slightly slower setup, but it’s something that’ll help people get their heads around driving this car in the first instance.”

Active suspension goes a step further than traditional automotive suspension in that it can put force back into the body on its own. Gray said there are active elements that control heave (essentially ride height) and roll, and each can be adjusted multiple times in a corner. Active suspension is a huge boon for a high-downforce car, as when dealing with serious aero, you need to keep the platform stable, so you don’t get an aero imbalance. Without active elements, you’d control these body motions with ultra-stiff springs, otherwise, you get the sort of porpoising seen in F1 cars back in 2022. 

From Left: Rob Gray, Adrian Newey, Christian Horner

Gray told Motor1 that the active aero here is controlled via movable elements in the front and rear wings plus the rear diffuser. Newey said the car starts to trim away downforce as speed rises—as downforce rises with the square of speed. Without the ability to reduce downforce on the fly, the RB17’s tires would compress too much. 

Speaking of tires, Red Bull is working with Michelin to come up with three different tire options for the RB17. There’s a treaded tire on 20-inch wheels that acts as both a weather tire, and the most approachable option for dry running, with characteristics similar to a road car tire. Then there’s two slick options, one meant to up the speed while still remaining approachable, and a “confidential” tire. 

Similar to what’s used in Le Mans Hypercars, the confidential tire is, as the name suggests, made up of a mystery compound only Michelin knows. This is the fastest tire for the RB17, and if you want to run it, Michelin will be there, and they’ll take the tire back when you’re done. 

“What I had in my own head, rightly or wrongly, is that if you take up a new sport, golf for example, you go to a golf club, hit a few balls and they go flying everywhere,” Newey said. “You enjoy your day but also you want to better yourself, so you take a caddy to coach you and get better, and this is that same philosophy.”

Red Bull

That’s also the reason why the RB17 is a two-seater. The driver can take a coach to sit right-seat, or a friend or partner around. 

“With that adaptability I described earlier, you can go from a car that’s benign to drive—it’s not gonna catch out all the time—and develop with the car to whatever performance level you feel comfortable with and whatever speed you feel comfortable with.”

It’s built a lot like a Formula 1 car, too, with Red Bull doing most of the manufacturing in-house, using the same parts suppliers for the stuff it doesn’t build itself. Red Bull tapped Cosworth to build the engine, off the back of the successful partnership it had with Newey on the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Red Bull examined both V-6 and V-8 twin-turbo engines initially, but Newey didn’t like the sound, and packaging charge-air coolers proved challenging. So they opted for a V-10 instead. Hallelujah. 

Newey wanted 1,000 horsepower and 150 kilograms (330 pounds), and that led Red Bull and Cosworth to decide on a 4.5-liter V-10 with a 15,000-rpm rev limit. Horner calls the RB17 a sort of “greatest hits” collection from Newey’s career, and ultimately, a V-10 was the only appropriate engine. The gearbox, Gray told us, uses components from XTrac in an assembly built and designed by Red Bull. As in an F1 car, it’s mounted behind the engine longitudinally, to make room for the diffuser channels.

Newey says the RB17 is a lot easier to run than a modern F1 car. You can turn up to a track by yourself and run it, but that’s not advisable. Still, you won’t need a whole team to just get the car moving without grenading itself. Red Bull will also store and operate the car for you, and it’s also going to run a development program so drivers can gain experience in its F1 sim.

It’s clear to see why, as Horner says, the RB17 is f***ing expensive. Over $6 million, in fact, which eclipses a lot of other hypercars out there. But no other hypercar offers genuine F1-beating performance, and none but RB17 comes from the mind of Adrian Newey.