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.

️ Verstappen: “RB17 hiper aracıyla Le Mans 24 saatte yarışmak istiyorum.” pic.twitter.com/z7HDxjpzpg

— Motorsport Türkiye (@motorsportcomtr) October 16, 2023

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.