ICONIC MOTORSPORT LIVERIES
Colours empower emotions. At the very beginning of the championship, cars followed paint schemes. Red for Italy, green for Great Britain, blue for France and silver for Germany as the most notable ones. In truth, each competing nationality was associated a tint. Initially this was based on the driver, then on the constructor one drove for. During 1968, sponsors arrive and renew the art of racing liveries. Prior to it, teams simply placed automotive supporters' logos on their chassis. Team Gunston backed Rhodesian pilot John Love, who run this name on his vehicle. At the next event, Lotus applied the combination of red, gold and white representing Gold Leaf. Two years later the first iconic colour scheme is born. The black-and-gold John Player Special-Lotus. McLaren then pairs up with Marlboro, becoming the team's title sponsor for entire twenty-three seasons, the longest partnership in the sport's history.
During the 1970s, charges rose to stay in FORMULA 1 for both constructors and circuit promoters. As a consequence, new deals marked the appearance of most cars and the tobacco industry proves to be pivotal in carrying the sport through this epoch. Traditional colours persist thanks to Ferrari, Ligier and BRM. Yet, title sponsors keep consistently shaping liveries. In 2009 solely rosso corsa is still popular, but a year later Mercedes is back on the grid, racing with traditional silver. In 2017, McLaren partially returns to orange, which was used before achieving their maiden deal. From 2018, they are sporting papaya that founder Bruce McLaren clinched the first of many victories for the Woking-based squad with. 2021 sees Alpine and Aston Martin as rebranded, new squads and both are back in blue and British racing green, reflecting motorsport heritage.
Picking the most iconic, spectacular, eye-catching livery is virtually impossible, especially with trendy one-off creations nowadays. Still, certain teams' looks stand out over the eras and are instantly identified. Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus and Red Bull Racing. All are unique. The latter has stayed unchanged in the 'bull' sections, altering blue tonalities. McLaren and Lotus with the mentioned sponsorships are everlasting. Finally, the Scuderia in scarlet red. Changing nuances has been common, but the glorious constructor always remained loyal to its character. Infamously, non-red Ferraris competed in multiple GRAND PRIX however, but under the license... NART (North American Racing Team). Due to adversities in prototype racing, 'Il Drake' Enzo Ferrari could not run the vehicles under his name temporarily. So, operated by fellow Italian equipe, John Surtees won his single WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP in 1964 at the wheel of a blue-white Ferrari!