Newey’s masterpiece?

‘It will have Formula 1 levels of performance,’ says Adrian Newey in that laconic, matter-of-fact way of his. Motor racing’s sharpest mind delivers the claim with such understatement it washes over you at first, until you stop to really think about it.

A two-seat hypercar that will lap a Grand Prix circuit about as quickly as the fastest racing cars on the planet? And the only barrier to entry will be immense wealth – so long as you have that, and Lord knows plenty do, you will soon be able to buy a car that has comparable performance to the land-borne rocketship Max Verstappen races every other weekend?

That car is the RB17, designed by Newey and manufactured by Red Bull Advanced Technologies at a rate of 15 per year from 2025 until 50 customer cars have been produced. Buyers in the UK will pay £6m, inclusive of tax, making the RB17 one of the most expensive new cars ever offered for sale to the public, and far more costly than any other track-only hypercar yet produced. In fact, in terms of price, no limited-run, track-bound Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini or Aston Martin even comes close.