As Adrian Newey settles into life at Aston Martin, his final Red Bull-era creation continues to evolve. Red Bull Advanced Technologies has released fresh images of the RB17 hypercar, and while it now looks a touch more road-aware, it remains every bit as extreme as its first appearance suggested.
First seen at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2025, the RB17 was very much a statement piece. The latest version introduces a handful of practical concessions. Larger headlights, proper exterior mirrors and even a windscreen wiper have appeared, subtle signs that this is edging closer to a finished machine rather than a design study.
The bodywork has also been refined. A spine-mounted fin has emerged, the vents and aero detailing are more clearly defined, and while the car is slightly larger than before, Red Bull says its footprint still broadly mirrors that of a modern Formula One car, which is not a sentence often written about road-going vehicles.
Newey’s involvement, while no longer hands-on day-to-day, has not entirely disappeared. According to Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the design intent was firmly set early on, with Newey still available for consultation. One notable late change was relocating the exhaust to the engine cover, a decision that required additional engineering to manage heat but reinforced the car’s race-bred layout.
That exhaust exists for good reason. Beneath the carbon skin sits a bespoke naturally aspirated V10 developed by Cosworth. It revs to a heady 15,000rpm and produces around 1,000bhp on its own. An electric motor adds a further 200bhp, providing torque fill during upshifts and eliminating the need for a conventional reverse gear. Combined output sits at roughly 1,200bhp.
For the first time, Red Bull has also revealed the RB17’s interior, and it is refreshingly single-minded. There are no touchscreens, no haptic panels and very little to distract the driver from the job at hand. The philosophy is closer to a Formula One cockpit than a luxury hypercar, and deliberately so.
Despite not being intended for competition, the RB17 is being engineered to Le Mans prototype crash standards. Front-hinged doors replace the more dramatic gullwing setup seen on the Valkyrie, improving access without compromising stiffness or safety.
The RB17 remains a limited-run hypercar aimed squarely at those who want the closest thing to an F1 experience without needing a super licence. It may now have headlights and a wiper, but make no mistake. This is still Red Bull doing things its own way.
