One-off liveries aren’t a new thing in Formula 1. We’ve seen them commemorate the launches of movies, celebrate racing milestones, and even mourn the devastating loss of life like the plain Ferrari color scheme that was shown off at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix a few days after the 9/11 tragedy.
Earlier this year, during the Monaco Grand Prix, we were treated to two McLaren cars sporting blue-and-orange Gulf Oil liveries. While an absolutely gorgeous throwback, Red Bull on the other hand is sending off its power-unit supplier Honda in style with a special white paint job.
This livery was supposed to make an appearance at the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda’s final home race in F1. But because COVID-19 threw a wrench at this year’s season, there will be no race in Suzuka. The Turkish Grand Prix has replaced it, and that is where the special paint job will be debuting.
Sporting a predominantly white body with a red rising sun on the nose (where the driver number is located), it’s inspired by the legendary Honda RA272 which Ritchie Ginther drove to score the automaker’s maiden F1 win in the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. The word arigato (thank you) written in Japanese characters can be seen on the engine covers and the rear wings of the two RB16B machines. The pair of AlphaTauri AT02 cars will also feature the word on their rear wings.
This isn’t the first time Red Bull will run a white car. The team made a special one-off color scheme for David Coulthard’s final race. It was seen at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix briefly before colliding with the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima on the first lap.
We hope that the specially painted Red Bulls will perform favorably at this weekend’s race.
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