Red Bull RB17 is radical 1250bhp hybrid hypercar for 2025

“[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.”

According to RBAT technical director Rob Gray, the hypercar will be predominantly manufactured in-house, with items such as glass and gear clusters outsourced.

Gray said: “There’s a lot in common between this car and the Formula 1 car in terms of the general engineering principles used to design it. Most of this car, the core, we are capable of building in-house. That’s why we have such a low volume target.

“We know how to build low-volume vehicles. We don’t want to do mass production.”

Gray added that the hybrid unit’s power contribution will be “significant”, indicating that regenerated energy will run to around 150bhp. “We want to use the hybrid to complement the internal combustion engine, rather than dominate it.”

Horner said: “It will sound fantastic, like a track car should.” He declined to reveal powertrain details but said the power unit will be produced to “our specification by a third party”, not by the nascent Red Bull Powertrains division, currently gearing up for a post-2025 F1 power unit.

Asked if the RB17 was the first step towards Red Bull becoming a fully fledged road car manufacturer, Horner said: “It’s the start of a journey. It’s an interesting starting point for us. You can never say ‘never’, but certainly this is a halo project for us.”

As the most innovative F1 designer of his generation – one with 10 constructor championship titles across three teams to his name – Newey introduced various novelties to the sport.

Asked if the RB17 will feature Newey specialities such as a ‘blown diffuser’, Gray said: “We internally sometimes refer to [the RB17] as ‘Adrian’s greatest hits’. There’s a lot of things that people will recognise… He’s constantly innovated on [this] vehicle and he’s involved in pretty much every aspect of design and engineering.

“Everyone looks at Adrian as an aerodynamicist by trade, but he’s also involved in everything from wheels, tyres, suspension, brakes, all the way through to engine.”

In a subsequent interview Newey expanded on the list, telling Autocar, “It will be a skirted car, so flexible skirts - because we can – and clearly large ground effect tunnels, active suspension as it could be driven on circuits that aren't as smooth as [F1 tracks] and we’re trying to avoid having very stiff suspension.“It will also have exhaust blowing, all the tricks that we’ve learned [in F1], in other words.”

Newey further clarified that the power unit will be twin-turbo V8, with the energy recovery system primarily providing a torque “fill” and reducing throttle lag under acceleration.

“[ERS] also helps in other areas, which I don't really want to go into at the moment,” he smiled enigmatically.

Newey said the power unit will be a twin-turbo V8, with the energy recovery system (ERS) primarily providing torque fill and reducing throttle lag under acceleration. “[ERS] also helps in other areas, which I don’t really want to go into at the moment,” he said, smiling.

Horner estimates that the car will cost around £5 million plus applicable taxes.

When F1 winners spawn hypercars

Gordon Murray, with three constructor titles, set the scene with the three-seat, 612bhp McLaren F1 road car, introduced in 1992. The left-field thinker recently announced the eponymous GMA T50.

Rory Byrne, the engineer behind seven constructor titles, provided aerodynamic, composites and packaging expertise for the 950bhp Ferrari LaFerrari hybrid. Some 710 were built between 2013 and 2016.

Newey’s first hypercar effort was the 1160bhp Aston Martin Valkyrie, above, now being delivered. But the road version was ultimately too sanitised for his liking, hence the RB17. What next?