Adrian Newey still involved in brand new Red Bull

Adrian Newey is still involved in the RB17 Hypercar project despite having moved to Aston Martin, according to Rob Gray, who is the technical director of Red Bull Advanced Technologies.

The 67-year-old left the Milton Keynes-based team in early 2024, seeking pastures new after almost two decades with the team.

It was a period in which he helped build it from its infancy into a six-time F1 constructors' champion, with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen both winning four drivers' titles apiece.

Although he joined Aston Martin — first as managing technical partner, before also assuming team principal responsibilities ahead of the 2026 season — the Briton still has ties to Red Bull, through the RB17.

The Hypercar has recently undergone some revisions ahead of release, with it being revealed that Newey still has input in the project, which will see only 50 models built.

"He's allowed to," Gray confirmed to TopGear.com. "He's still interested in what's going on. He still has a bit of input. But to an extent, we got a lot of what we needed from him in that we know his intent.

"We know what he wants the car to look like. If there's ever any questions, he's at the end of the phone; we can talk to him and get his thoughts on it."

The slightly altered design sees amended front lights, redesigned cooling vents and a sailfish fin on the engine cover.

It is also slightly smaller than the original prototype. Nonetheless, Gray explains that much of the operation is about seeing Newey's vision through to completion.

"But a lot of it is making his vision real, and we can kind of just get on with that," he explained.

"And Adrian, he can do everything on the car — I'm pretty sure he could design every part on the car, and he has done so in his history, but at the same time, he's always had a team around him to turn his early concepts into reality."