Red Bull will pay tribute to its engine supplier Honda by running a special livery at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The team has revealed a special livery in the colours of the Japanese flag for its two RB21s. It is inspired by the Honda RA272 which scored the manufacturer’s first grand prix victory 60 years ago in Mexico.
Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s second F1 team which also uses Honda engines, will also pay tribute to the manufacturer. “A special logo commemorating 60 years since Honda’s first F1 victory will also be displayed across all four Red Bull cars on the grid,” said Red Bull in a statement.
This is the final year in which Red Bull is using Honda’s power units. It is designing its own motors in conjunction with Ford for the new regulations which will arrive next year.
Red Bull previously ran a similar livery in 2021. It intended to use the design at the Japanese Grand Prix that year, but it was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so the livery appeared at the Turkish Grand Prix instead.
The team’s change of livery is particularly significant this weekend as Yuki Tsunoda will become the first Japanese driver to race for the team. He has replaced Liam Lawson.
Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe said: “It is quite moving to see the RA272 tribute livery on the latest Red Bull Racing machine, in the final year of Honda and Red Bull’s partnership.”
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Red Bull has enjoyed huge success with Honda since joining forces with the manufacturer in 2019. Honda endured an uncompetitive spell working with McLaren in the early years of the current V6 hybrid turbo power units. The pair split at the end of 2017 and Red Bull took up a supply of Honda power units for its second team, then known as Toro Rosso.
Having been impressed by the improvements Honda made in 2018, Red Bull began using its engines the following year. Max Verstappen scored the first victory for the new alliance in their ninth race together, at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Two years later Verstappen won his first of four consecutive drivers’ titles in a Honda-powered Red Bull. However by that point Honda had decided not to continue manufacturing F1 engines. As F1 froze its engine specifications at the end of 2021, Red Bull was able to continue using the power units. In addition to Verstappen’s four titles, the team won the constructors championship in 2022 and 2023.
Red Bull made plans to produce its own F1 engines and originally rebranded its Honda power units as ‘Red Bull Powertrains’. However Honda subsequently decided to return to F1 as an engine manufacturer in 2026, supplying Aston Martin, and restored its brandings to Red Bull’s power units.
This weekend will be the first time Red Bull has used a variation on its livery since last year’s Miami Grand Prix. The team originally announced it would use further special liveries at the other two American rounds on the calendar, but dropped the plan in order to avoid adding “undue weight” to its chassis.
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Pictures: Red Bull’s Honda tribute livery
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