Adrian Newey has shared further insight into the impressive capabilities of the Red Bull RB17 hypercar, his latest and last project with the team.
The 65-year-old has claimed that at the hands of an amateur in the simulator, the car recently went a second faster than the F1 pole position time at Silverstone.
When it was unveiled at Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, Red Bull confirmed only 50 would be produced and it was known the RB17 would be extremely quick compared to F1 lap times.
However, it now appears it may be capable of surpassing the cars Newey has spent the past two decades designing for the reigning constructors' champions.
"Admittedly, in the hands of a professional, it's capable of Formula 1 lap times," he told Red Bull's Talking Bull podcast.
"So, we actually had one of our customers on the simulator the other day, who's not a professional, in fact, but a very good amateur driver.
"And in the driving simulator, he would have been on pole at Silverstone by one second in the car, so it has a lot of potential."
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Some 140 people from the Milton Keynes squad are working on the RB17, and Newey has since explained the philosophy behind his creation.
The 12-time F1 constructors' champion said he wanted: "To try to come up with a car which would be accessible to somebody with relatively limited experience, that they would be able to feel the car, it would be benign, not too snappy, not too difficult to drive.
"And then, as you develop your own abilities, then the car will be adaptable, and you can tune it, and you would have different tyres and different levels of downpours and so forth, so that you can grow with the car."
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