Red Bull Advanced Technologies just dropped the final look at the RB17, and folks, it’s a monster—a track-only beast that wraps up Adrian Newey’s wild ride with the team. Talk about going out with a bang. The reveal comes after a messy stretch for Red Bull Racing, full of shake-ups in leadership and a Formula 1 season that, let’s be real, didn’t go their way. They trailed Mercedes and got schooled by McLaren, leaving Max Verstappen in second by the end.
But here’s the thing: while the racing team was scrambling, the engineers were playing god. The RB17 first teased crowds at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed, then popped up again last year as the project morphed into something crazier. Now? It’s fully baked—a far cry from those early, rough-around-the-edges prototypes.
Newey’s final fingerprints are all over this thing. Most obvious? That wild spinal exhaust smack in the center, which forced a total rework of how the thing handles heat. The body’s now riddled with vents, gaping cooling intakes, downwash ramps sharp enough to cut glass, and a towering dorsal fin that makes it look ready to bite. Pair that with polished LED headlights and a meaner carbon splitter, and you’ve got something that laughs at its earlier selves.
Make no mistake, this isn’t some garage queen. Sure, it’s brutal, but there are nods to practicality—door mirrors (seriously!), a lone wiper for when the track gets messy, plus doors hinged at the A-pillars so climbing in doesn’t feel like yoga. Shrunk slightly, the carbon tub meets Le Mans Hypercar safety demands. Inside, it’s all business: a taut cockpit, real buttons (take that, touchscreens), and active suspension that’s anything but lazy.
Under the hood? A shrieking 4.5-liter naturally aspirated V10 from Cosworth, belting out 1,000 horsepower at a brain-melting 15,000 rpm. And because too much is never enough, a 200-horse electric kick joins the party, pushing total output to 1,200. At just 1,984 pounds, this thing dances in Formula 1’s league—no joke.
But the real magic’s in the air. The RB17 punches out over 3,700 pounds of downforce—double its own heft. With active suspension and a banned-in-F1 fan system sucking it to the asphalt, this hypercar grips like nothing else. Rumor has it, at the right speed, it could theoretically drive upside down. Nuts.
No, you can’t street-drive it. No, it doesn’t fit any racing rulebook. Only 50 will exist, each starting at a casual $6.5 million. And if you snag one? Congrats, you’re enrolled in an ultra-exclusive training program—because owning this isn’t a flex, it’s a full-blown commitment to madness.
