2026 Red Bull RB17 Goes Full Formula 1 With A 1,000-HP V10
by AutoExpert | 5 January, 2026
Red Bull has finally debuted the completed RB17, and it’s every bit as bonkers as you’d expect. This is their road-legal hypercar’s track-only sibling, designed in Adrian Newey’s final years at the company before leaving for Aston Martin. Although he’s long since departed, you can still see plenty of Newey’s DNA.
The RB17 was initially revealed at Goodwood in 2024, but that was a pre-alpha version at best. The car we see today is dialed in. It has a much sharper front end, with a full carbon splitter and a less gawky LED lighting setup that finally resembles something that’s ready for production. While this car will never see a public road, it’s clear Red Bull still cared about build quality.
Along the sides, the F1 influence is impossible to miss. It now has real mirrors, not show-car placeholders, and the bodywork is carved up with vents and gills straight out of a single-seater playbook. On the roof, there’s a big intake and a shark fin running down the spine, there to keep the car stable when it’s flying through fast corners or flat-out on a straight.
The rear is pure race car. A huge wing wraps around the back, and underneath it all are massive Venturi tunnels doing most of the aerodynamic heavy lifting. The exhaust has been relocated, too, now poking out through the engine cover instead of down low, which just adds to the drama.
Inside, we can see a compact cockpit, a racing steering wheel with a big screen in the middle, and nothing that doesn’t serve a purpose. Comfort was clearly not on the checklist.
Then there’s the engine, which is the real headline. The 2026 Red Bull RB17 uses a naturally aspirated V10 built by Cosworth, putting it in the same rare club as the Valkyrie and Gordon Murray’s T.50. After a lot of debate, Red Bull settled on a 4.5-liter setup that revs to a ridiculous 15,000 rpm and makes 1,000 horsepower. No turbos, no hybrid gimmicks. Just revs, noise, and instant response.
Red Bull’s technical director, Rob Gray, says keeping the RB17 off the road was the cheat code. No emissions rules. No crash regs. No compromises. That freedom allowed the engineers to develop the car a step closer to a true monster. At the end of the day, the RB17 exists because Red Bull wanted to build an extreme, loud, and slightly insane car.
