Red Bull reveal Honda tribute livery for the Turkish Grand Prix
Friday, 8 October 2021
Honda will depart F1® at the end of the season.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will run a Red Bull tribute livery to Honda to celebrate the companies time in Formula 1®.
Honda announced late last year that the 2021 season would be their final year supplying engines to F1®. Honda had a brief hiatus from the sport after finishing with McLaren back in 2015, before returning to Toro Rosso (AlphaTauri) in 2018. From 2019, they began supplying both Red Bull Teams.
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AlphaTauri enjoyed success with the Honda engine at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix when Pierre Gasly made a triumphant drive to finish on top of the podium. Red Bull have also benefited from the partnership with 13 victories and being a significant component of Verstappen's title charge this season.
The livery is inspired by Richie Ginther's 1965 Mexican Grand Prix winning Honda RA272. The AlphaTauri will also feature the Japanese script for arigato – thank you – on their rear wings.
"We had all been looking forward to giving Honda's Japanese fans a chance to celebrate our extremely successful relationship in Formula 1, on home soil at Suzuka," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
"With the race falling victim to the pandemic, we just couldn't let the weekend pass without paying tribute to Honda and its amazing home fans by bringing a little bit of its heritage to Istanbul.
"The livery chosen for our cars pays homage to Honda's remarkable F1 journey, and hopefully, we can give fans another victory in those legendary colours this weekend."
The tribute is running this weekend as it was initially going to be Honda's home Grand Prix at Suzuka before the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
What do you think of the livery?
The full reveal up Unveiling our very special livery for the #TurkishGP pic.twitter.com/mcgQldasiH
— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) October 7, 2021
