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Adrian Newey Unveils What Inspired Him to Design Red Bull’s $6.2 Million First Ever Hypercar

Anirban Aly Mandal
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Adrian Newey Unveils What Inspired Him to Design Red Bull’s $6.2 Million First Ever Hypercar

Earlier in 2023, Red Bull announced that they would be debuting their first-ever production hypercar – the RB17, in 2026. As soon as this news got out, the $6.2 million worth beast has created a lot of hype for its release. Recently, when the car’s designer, Adrian Newey, sat down for an episode of Talking Bulls, he was asked about the project. That’s when he revealed the real inspiration behind him getting to work on the RB17.

Newey revealed, “[Sony] PlayStation, back in 2010, approached me and said would I be interested in sort of designing a ‘No Regulation’ ultimate performance car.” That project for the Gran Turismo series – the Red Bull X2010, really got Newey’s interest piqued.

Years later, he, representing Red Bull, would partner with Aston Martin to design and produce the Valkyrie. However, Red Bull then wanted to do something on their own. That’s when they decided to give the RB17 a shot, and Newey was evidently on board.

The two-seater hypercar will be initially released as a track-focused variant, per MotorTrend. Inspired by Formula 1 design, the car would bear a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis.

The heart and soul of the RB17, however, would be a naturally aspirated V-10 engine that would be capable of producing a whopping 1,100 horsepower. For all intents and purposes, Red Bull want it to be as close to F1-spec as possible.

What would really make this standalone Red Bull project even more enticing is the fact that the team will only produce 50 RB17s, all built in-house, to preserve exclusivity. However, we can expect the likes of Max Verstappen and the other Red Bull higher-ups to be getting a key for the car, though.

Max Verstappen is ready to welcome the RB17 into his collection

The RB17 isn’t the only hypercar Adrian Newey designed while heading the engineering department of the Milton Keynes-based team. The British engineer’s last hypercar project got a worthy patron in the form of three-time world champion, Max Verstappen – the $4,000,000 worth Aston Martin Valkyrie.

More than an affinity for their star driver, it only makes sense to hand him the keys to one RB17. Verstappen would surely do promotional content for the team, hence, it is a sensible commercial decision for Red Bull to give him the car to flaunt.

That being said, Verstappen would hope that the RB17 treats him better than the Valkyrie. The Dutchman got in trouble with French police after a video emerged of him allegedly breaking the speed limit amongst other traffic rules driving his own Aston Martin Valkyrie, as reported by Fox Sports.

Post Edited By:Vidit Dhawan

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal

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Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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