Formula 1

Crowdsourced Creativity: Red Bull’s Miami Grand Prix Livery

Published

4 weeks ago

04/05/2023

Get ready for a splash of color on the racetrack! Red Bull Racing has unveiled a vibrant fan-designed livery set to dazzle at the Miami Grand Prix this weekend. A creative initiative by Red Bull’s The Paddock loyalty program has allowed fans to leave their mark on the team’s car, resulting in a unique Miami-inspired design by Argentinian graphic design student Martina Andriano.

The Red Bull Formula 1 team has revealed the unique fan-created design that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will sport at the upcoming Miami Grand Prix this weekend.

Red Bull’s The Paddock loyalty program members have the opportunity to create distinctive color schemes for the three F1 races in the United States during the 2023 season.

Argentinian graphic design student Martina Andriano emerged as the winner of the Miami competition with her design, which incorporates additional light blue and pink lines into the car’s color scheme.

“When I began my design, the initial thought that crossed my mind was the airflow around and over the car, its movement, and its speed, which served as my inspiration,” she stated.

“Additionally, I aimed to represent Miami and the Miami race, which also contributed to my inspiration.”

Over the years, Red Bull has showcased a greater number of unique, one-off liveries compared to most other teams, with the outcomes of those cars varying from triumphs to complete catastrophes.

For its initial two Monaco Grands Prix, Red Bull collaborated with blockbuster movies, featuring Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005 and Superman Returns in 2006.

Although both David Coulthard and Tonio Liuzzi had to retire their damaged Star Wars-themed cars during Red Bull’s debut Monaco GP, the Superman livery was associated with a notable victory.

Following an outstanding qualifying performance, two-time Monaco winner Coulthard took advantage of some attrition ahead and secured Red Bull’s first-ever F1 podium finish in third place. He celebrated this achievement by donning a Superman cape on the podium.

The Miami livery is the latest addition to a collection of Wings for Life specials that Red Bull has created to raise money for its spinal cord injury research foundation.

Two of these special liveries featured images of fans’ faces who had contributed to the cause – the design for the 2012 British GP (above) blended more seamlessly into the standard Red Bull livery compared to the 2007 version (below).

The 2012 car proved to be much more successful. Amid Red Bull’s first series of F1 championships, it claimed victory at Silverstone when Mark Webber overtook Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari towards the end. In contrast, the 2007 ‘face car’ wasn’t competitive enough to score at Silverstone.

To commemorate his final F1 start, Coulthard sported a special Wings for Life livery at the 2008 Brazilian GP. However, his last F1 race ended prematurely, not even making it past the first corner. Ironically, his race was ruined by the team that had given him his initial F1 opportunity 14 years prior, as he was hit by one Williams driver (Nico Rosberg) and then collected by another (Kazuki Nakajima).

Due to the ongoing effects of the COVID pandemic, the Japanese GP was not held during Honda’s (somewhat) farewell F1 season in 2021. Instead, a special Honda livery was used for the Turkish GP, which filled Suzuka’s slot.

Although Mercedes clinched victory in Istanbul with Valtteri Bottas, Verstappen’s second-place finish allowed him to regain the championship lead over Lewis Hamilton that weekend.

Despite its numerous one-off specials, Red Bull Racing has seen relatively minimal livery variation during its two decades in F1.

There have been instances when it appeared that a significant change to its standard color scheme was imminent, but variations have been restricted to shakedowns and tests.

Before purchasing Jaguar at the end of 2004, Red Bull served as Sauber’s title sponsor for an extended period and even held a stake in the team. If Red Bull had wanted to showcase its transition from sponsor to full-fledged team owner in F1 with a new identity, it could have easily adopted the design of its beverage cans as a livery change.

Although it seemed like an obvious choice, Red Bull has never actually raced a car sporting the colors of one of its cans.

The only glimpse of what such a livery would look like came during the 2004-2005 winter, when Red Bull hastily rebranded the Jaguars it acquired for testing purposes.

When Red Bull’s definitive 2005 car was unveiled, it featured a design that could be traced back to the 1995 Sauber.

In 2015, Red Bull’s car made its debut at testing with a mock-camouflage livery, resembling the kind seen on prototype road cars during testing at the Nordschleife before their official release.

Red Bull entertained the idea that it was an attempt to conceal the car’s secrets during testing, but ultimately, it was a clever marketing tactic to draw attention.

The concept was inspired by a crash helmet Sebastian Vettel used at the 2014 Italian Grand Prix. However, he never got to drive with the livery due to his departure from the team during the winter.

Team principal Christian Horner assured those hoping for the team to race with the camouflage livery that they wouldn’t be disappointed when Red Bull’s definitive 2015 car was revealed. However, whatever the team had planned for the season must have been accidentally removed from its servers.

The only change Red Bull made to its standard design was adding its own name to the side of the chassis.

Since then, Red Bull has repeated this strategy a few times, unveiling new cars in special liveries for their shakedowns in 2018 (above) and 2019 (below).

However, both times, the team reverted to its traditional colors when proper testing commenced.

This year, Red Bull piqued fans’ interest by tweeting an image of a plain car render along with a mention of a ‘blank canvas’ in January.

This turned out to be a teaser for the Miami livery contest, which was further promoted by having artist Mr Doodle create a design on a 2018 RB14. The finished artwork was then auctioned off to raise funds for Wings for Life.

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