Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s car is white and red this weekend to honor the partnership with Honda
This weekend, if corona had gone back into its box, the Japanese GP would have taken place. The Honda home race was the perfect time for the Japanese fans to say goodbye to the motorcycle brand. They don’t get that chance, but Red Bull Racing still pays tribute. AlphaTauri by the way, but we don’t have those pictures yet. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will race this weekend with a special retrolivery.
The two Red Bull cars exchange their standard colors for a white canvas with red accents and Japanese texts. The inspiration comes from the Honda RA 272, a 1965 F1 car that Honda took its first win at the Mexican GP. Then Richie Ginther was behind the wheel. In 2019 Verstappen was allowed to drive a round in this F1 car for a promo. Alphatauri gets arigato on the rear spoiler, which is obviously Japanese for thanks.
Mercedes revives traumas
The web team at Mercedes has a healthy dose of self-mockery, and immediately points out to Red Bull what happened when they had a special offer livery put on their car. In 2019, the team celebrated 125 years in motorsport and their 200th F1 start. You can see the result of that race in the tweet below.
Mercedes’ response
🤍 special livery? We tried that once. 🙃 pic.twitter.com/YwQ2B3rk1Y
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) October 6, 2021