Christian Horner gushes as Red Bull sets release date of RB17 dubbed ‘Newey unleashed’ in first foray into hypercar segment

Red Bull has been the team to beat over the last two seasons, breaking plenty of records along the way. Much of the credit for their recent success has rightfully been placed on F1 design guru Adrian Newey and the legend has delivered yet another banger, according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

Horner confirmed the launch of Red Bull’s RB17 and said that the team’s first-ever hypercar will hit the market by the end of 2024.

Christian Horner and Max Verstappen. Credit: planetf1.com
Christian Horner and Max Verstappen. Credit: planetf1.com

With Newey reportedly spending less time developing the team’s F1 challenger, his attention has shifted to the 1250BHP vehicle which will be powered by a V8 engine. Its primary use is believed to be for track-days at race circuits.

With only 50 units set to hit the market, Horner confirmed that even months from its release, they are almost completely sold out. To maintain their exclusivity, only a 15% increase is expected in production over the coming years.

Describing the new car as ‘Newey unleashed‘, Horner couldn’t help but show his excitement over Red Bull’s latest project.

“Adrian wanted to do a car [for us] back in 2014, and at that point in time, we found a route through that by doing all the design work for the Valkyrie in partnership with Aston Martin,” Horner said.

“Valkyrie is a stunning vehicle and I’m sure it will be a great success, but you’re always learning, whether in Formula 1 or on the advanced technologies side.

“[RBAT] has now existed for close to eight years and there’s an awful lot of knowledge that has been built up in that time. With the budget cap era [in F1], if you want to retain resources there have to be projects that can justify their existence.

“This is a perfect project utilising the skill sets that we have, so it will complement our Formula 1 activities rather than distract from them.”

The car was given the name RB17 after the name was skipped by the F1 team owing to Covid.

With Red Bull’s RB19 winning all but one race over the course of last season, it is expected that their new challenger, dubbed RB20, will push the limits even further.

Read more: Mercedes signs partnership agreement to usher new era of F1 – “thoroughly impressed by their technology”

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