The Red Bull RB17 has been confirmed for a 2024 reveal by team principal Christian Horner as the brand’s first ever hypercar.
Horner, CEO of Red Bull Racing and its Advanced Technologies offshoot, confirmed the reveal of the mild-hybrid, 1250bhp V8 hypercar in an interview with Sky Sports.
Due for delivery in 2025, the car has been designed with a minimum of compromises and is aimed primarily at track-day applications.
Horner also told Autocar that the closed-roof vehicle could be made road legal should owners wish to convert them to meet local traffic regulations.
A limited production run of 50 units, built at the rate of 15 per year, is planned. Most of them are already sold.
Horner described the vehicle as “Adrian Newey unleashed”, adding that the Formula 1 superstar designer had long wished to build a car unfettered by sporting regulations or road car legislation, hence RBAT’s latest in-house project, initially codenamed ‘Eta’.
The car is formally known as RB17 – a tag that fills a gap in Red Bull’s F1 car naming strategy after that number was skipped due to changes to regulations under Covid. The RB18 is the car for the 2024 season.
The RB17 is said to be a natural progression from the Newey-designed road-going Aston Martin Valkyrie, currently in the early stages of delivery to customers after a lengthy gestation.
Asked how the RB17 came about, Horner told Autocar: “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.
“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.