The Red Bull RB17 is a hypercar overseen by Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey, and now that his departure from the team has been confirmed, the car will be fully focused until his departure.
Max Verstappen has made no secret of his intention to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the future, including in an RB17 once it is introduced globally, as it is expected to feature a number of Newey’s “greatest successes” in his career. esteemed Formula 1 race in a single design.
The Red Bull RB17 was announced at a June 2022 press conference featuring Newey and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, with a task that will utilize Newey’s world-renowned wisdom on low-effect aerodynamics. floor in a track-only specification, and lately the RB17 is being designed. in collaboration with Red Bull Advanced Technologies.
The RB17 is named so to stick with the team’s Formula 1 car naming convention, but given that the 2021 Red Bull was called RB16B and the 2022 car was called RB18, this left a void to fill: for the hypercar to do yours.
Newey has already completed the design of one hypercar in recent years, leading the design process for the Aston Martin Valkyrie when the logo was partnered with Red Bull, but the RB17 will carry the Red Bull name.
Red Bull has announced that production of the RB17 will begin in 2025 and that it will be an “exclusive track specification for the purest execution of an F1-inspired hypercar”.
It will be a two-seater powered by a naturally aspirated V10 engine that, according to Red Bull, will produce more than 1,000 HP, complemented by a two-hundred HP electric motor with a power recovery [ERS] formula that is already a long-standing feature of Formula 1 cars.
The car itself will be designed around a carbon composite cockpit that will use floor effect aerodynamics, the same flavor used in Formula 1 cars, generating significant downforce from the floor of the car and weighing less than 900kg.
Due to the lack of technical restrictions on the car, the RB17 will also feature some of Newey’s most prominent inventions in Formula 1, such as the active suspension that propelled Williams to dominance in the early 1990s, as well as blown exhausts. Array, an innovation that propelled Red Bull to the helm of the group in 2009.
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Flexible skirts will also be used on the RB17 to maximise ground aerodynamics instead.
Commenting on the RB17, Newey said: “The RB17 distills everything we know about creating championship-winning Formula 1 into a package that offers excessive degrees of functionality in a two-seater track car.
“Driven through our hobby of functionality at each and every level, the RB17 pushes the barriers of design and strategy far beyond what was available to enthusiasts and collectors in the past. »
Prices for the RB17 start at £5 million (plus local tax), and 50 examples are manufactured at a rate of around 15 per year. Potential buyers have been asked to express interest in Red Bull, but most have already sold. even before production has taken place.
RB17 owners will also have access to Red Bull simulators, on-track education and other reports as part of the prize, and the team will offer direct maintenance and support service “tailored to each owner” and how they will use the car.
Speaking on Red Bull’s internal Talking Bull podcast in early 2024, Newey explained in more detail the main points of what has been designed and what his goals are for the car.
“The challenge we set ourselves is the adaptability of the car. But in the end the car, if driven by a professional driver, is capable of achieving Formula 1 lap times,” he said.
“It is impressive in the sense that this car, which is two-seater, can produce this type of performance.
“And that’s been achieved through the same old key parameters of focusing on weight, so it’s going to be less than 900 kilograms, i. e. much lighter than any road or track car in general.
“But at the same time, it will have 1,000 horsepower, a naturally aspirated V10, so it will sound wonderful; However, we will have a 200-horsepower electric motor, which performs a variety of functions. .
“It’s obviously an extra two hundred horsepower, but it also smooths out the torque, smooths out the gear shift, reverses, first gear, you can turn the starter, all the same kind of multi-functions as always.
“It will have active suspension, which you want because the downforce we produce to achieve those lap times is immense.
“In figures, the weight it produces is limited to 1. 7 tons. The downforce is therefore limited to almost twice its weight, and this is simply because it otherwise overloads the tyres. But in reality, we did it. ” Number of about 150 miles per hour, so after that, it starts bleeding. It can produce its own weight in downforce at 120 miles per hour.
“It’s incredibly efficient aerodynamically and to achieve that, we pulled all the levers. It has a blown diffuser, active suspension and is multifunction.
“Again, the aim of the active suspension is to provide a very solid aerodynamic platform while maintaining a fairly moderate spring rate, so that you don’t launch yourself from one bump to another, which is far from as uncompromising as an existing Formula 1 car or an LMP car.
“So it complies with the regulations and also gives the option to tune the car, both aerodynamically by adjusting the ride heights and also in terms of how to replace what we call mechanical balance, which is the balance of grip between the front axle. and rear axle.
“So it can be made into a car that, as I mentioned earlier, is suitable for a wide diversity of driving techniques, styles and abilities. “
Production of the RB17 is expected to begin in early 2025, and Newey will leave Red Bull once his work on the project is complete, with the first models expected to go on sale in mid-2025.
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