F1 legend Adrian Newey launches new rocket ship as five-year plan ends with 'incredibly special moment'

Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey launches new rocket ship as five-year plan ends with 'incredibly special moment'

Newey has been busy testing out what could be his most impressive design yet

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Thursday 9 July 2026 18:44

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F1 design legend Adrian Newey has finally managed to get a long-term project off the ground that he has been juggling with his duties at Aston Martin.

The former Red Bull technical guru may have departed the energy drink giants to join Lawrence Stroll's F1 squad, but that hasn't stopped him from spending the last few years with a little bit of himself still attached to the Milton Keynes team.

When Newey announced his intention to leave Red Bull he was removed from the day-to-day running of the F1 outfit, but he was tasked with the final challenge of designing the RB17.

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The impressive hypercar is faster than any machinery you'd find competing out on track at a grand prix weekend and costs £5million, but at just 900 kilograms, it weighs less than some models of the Suzuki Swift.

With a break between F1 weekends after the British Grand Prix last time out, Newey had the honour of getting behind the wheel to take his final Red Bull design up the Hill at the legendary Goodwood Festival of Speed, which is taking place this week between Thursday, July 9 until Sunday, July 12.

Newey admits RB17 isn't finished, but still enjoyed Goodwood Hill debut

Speaking at Goodwood about what it meant to finally see the result of his five-year project out on the Hill, Newey said: "It's an incredibly special moment, it's been a very long time in the planning, I think I did my very first sketch of the car over Christmas of 2020 going into '21, so it's been a long time.

"The guys and the girls back at the factory have done an amazing and fabulous job to get it here."

Newey then clarified that the vehicle he had driven up the Hill was a pre-production model, revealing: "At the moment the active suspension isn't working, the fans are only cooling not generating downforce as well, some of the other active systems aren't calibrated yet, so this is kind of get the car out, get it running.

The former Red Bull designer then admitted: "It only ran for the first time three weeks ago," although it didn't seem to impact the vehicle's running as the 67-year-old concluded: "I'm really enjoying it"

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Red Bull Adrian Newey Goodwood Festival of Speed