First idea to celebrate Honda was smaller than special livery
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The special red and white livery that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will be driving in Turkey is a nice send-off from Red Bull Racing to Honda. The red and white livery is a tribute to Honda's first F1 victory in 1968 when the team entered with the red RA272. But was a special livery always the plan?
Race overalls
According to Honda F1 director Masashi Yamamoto, Red Bull Racing's plans were initially slightly less extensive. The team wanted their drivers, Verstappen and Perez, to drive in special racing overalls for the Japanese Grand Prix. "Red Bull said to Honda 'let's do something special together for Suzuka.' That's where it all started. Then one of the ideas was to make a special racing suit, inspired by the RA272," the Japanese said to The-Race.com.
"I've actually made the race suits for Honda drivers before, all white with a red line, which Jenson Button wore during one of our Honda Thanks Days. So the first idea was the race suits for Suzuka," Yamamoto said. "Then the conversation went a little further and we said 'Why don't we do it for the car as well?' So a livery inspired by RA272."
A little sad
So although the plan to drive the special livery in Japan has fallen through, something Yamamoto calls "a bit sad", the Japanese man is very happy with the result. "The design was developed together, Red Bull came up with the basic design and we suggested small details, like the red circle on the front that looks like the Japanese flag, and the retro numbers."