Adrian Newey to debut Red Bull RB17 at Goodwood

Adrian Newey’s Red Bull RB17 hypercar will make its first public runs at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 9-12, with Newey himself confirmed among the drivers for the car’s debut on the famous hillclimb.

That gives Formula 1’s off-weekend a clear centerpiece. Goodwood will again be packed with current drivers, teams and historic machinery, but the RB17 stands apart because this is the first time Red Bull’s long-awaited hypercar project will run in front of the public rather than in private testing.

Red Bull has scheduled the RB17 for multiple show runs across the four-day event at Goodwood’s Sussex estate, where cars and motorcycles from the past, present and future tackle the 1.16-mile course. Alongside Newey, Isack Hadjar and reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda are set to drive the car, while one report also listed F1 Academy driver Alisha Palmowski among those involved in its public outings.

The RB17 is Red Bull’s first self-built non-F1 car project, developed from 2022 as what has been described as an ultimate track-day machine built with Formula 1 know-how. The project emerged in the budget-cap era after Red Bull redirected resources into Red Bull Advanced Technologies, and it continued even after Newey left the F1 team for Aston Martin because he remained attached to the car through a separate agreement.

Rob Gray, technical director of Red Bull Advanced Technologies, said the aim from the start was to create a track car with Formula 1-level performance. “We started with the goal of creating a track-day car with Formula 1-level performance, which brought countless challenges in design, engineering, testing and manufacturing,” Gray said. He added that development from concept to finished product took “more than five years.”

The wider Goodwood field will still carry a strong Formula 1 presence. Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, Williams, Aston Martin, Red Bull and Racing Bulls are all expected to send cars and drivers, with Lando Norris due to drive McLaren’s 2023 MCL60 during the weekend.

That broad turnout only sharpens the focus on the RB17. Goodwood has become a place where teams celebrate both current and past machinery, but this year the biggest racing story is a new Red Bull car finally reaching the public stage, with the designer most closely associated with it taking the wheel himself.