The RB17 hypercar was launched at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this week with Adrian Newey and Christian Horner unveiling it to the world. Priced at $7.6 million, the RB17 was the talk of the town. But that didn’t stop Newey from bringing out his other creation- the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Aston Martin was once partnered up with Red Bull as its Title sponsor, which is when Newey worked with the British manufacturers to design the Valkyrie. It costs $3.5 million, and Newey was spotted driving it to Salon Prive on Saturday.
Adrian Newey pulling up to @SalonPriveUK in the Aston Martin Valkyrie. pic.twitter.com/ZU1Teg7aKq
— Vincenzo Landino (@vincenzolandino) April 26, 2024
Coded ‘Project AM-RB 001’, the Valkyrie was first announced in 2016, and the drive came out in 2023.
As such, the RB17 was Newey’s second non-F1 creation. Quoted by SportsStar, Horner referred to it as “Newey’s Utopia”. It is being marketed as the most extreme track car ever. And Horner spoke about giving Newey creative freedom while designing it.
Both the RB17 and the Valkyrie share a focus on aerodynamics, which is Newey’s area of expertise. However, a key difference is that the Aston Martin car is road-legal, whereas Red Bull has a lot of work to do before the RB17 can be driven in the same way.
The other difference lies in the fact that the Valkyrie was a collaborated initiative whereas the RB17 was Red Bull’s own.
Why Newey’s latest design isn’t a part of the AM-RB partnership
The AM-RB partnership ended with 001 – the launch of the Valkyrie. That is because Aston Martin stopped being a title sponsor to the Austrian stable in 2021.
Aston Martin launched its own team in F1, owned by Lawrence Stroll but they continued working on the Valkyrie together since its development began before the end of their deal.
Presenting the RB17 Designed by Adrian Newey and Red Bull Advanced Technologies ✍️
Built on 20 years of #F1 innovation, the RB17 has over 1,000 horsepower and a V10 engine pic.twitter.com/WS53k958Pe
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 12, 2024
Starting a whole new project – the RB17 – on the other hand, was not possible. As a result, it becomes Red Bull’s first-ever hypercar.
With Newey also leaving Red Bull next year, the RB17 will be his final creation with the Milton-Keynes-based team. It represents a culmination of everything he has achieved with the outfit to date.
