F1: Why are Red Bull and Alpha Tauri featuring 'Honda tribute' liveries at Turkish GP?

Redbull Racing has announced that the team will feature a special white livery as a tribute to their engine manufacturers, Honda, during the Turkish Grand Prix set to be held this weekend. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will run the Turkish GP with a white livery inspired by the Honda Racing F1 car of Richie Ginther, in which he clinched victory at the Mexican Grand Prix 1965. At the same time, the sister company of Red Bull, Alpha Tauri, will feature the word ‘arigato’ written on the rear wings of their cars, which means Thank You in Japanese. Earlier, Honda had decided to bid-adieu to Formula One at the end of the current season. 

Red Bull was originally scheduled to feature the special livery during the Japanese Grand Prix, set to be held in the Suzuka International circuit. However, the Japanese GP was cancelled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the Chief Officer for Brand and Communications at Honda, Koji Watanabe expressed his thoughts on the cancelled event at Suzuka and said, “Everyone at Honda is extremely disappointed that the Japanese Grand Prix has had to be cancelled. We were especially keen to race at Suzuka Circuit, as it is our last year in the sport, at a time when both our teams are performing very well. We also appreciate that the Japanese fans were particularly looking forward to seeing Honda’s last appearance here and Yuki Tsunoda driving in his home race”. 

Yuki Tsunoda, the first Japanese Formula One driver after Kamui Kobayashi

Watanabe also added that the team is fully aware that the special livery won’t replace the Japanese GP; however, he added that the team would expect Honda fans to accept the livery as a token of appreciation for their continued support. Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda was set to become the first Japanese driver to compete in a Formula One race in Japan since Kamui Kobayashi in 2014, but will now have to wait for his turn. Red Bull and Alpha Tauri are yet to reveal their full liveries, as they only gave a glimpse of it to the fans via Red Bull Racing’s social media handles ahead of the Turkish GP on Wednesday.

Image: @redbullracing/Instagram/Twitter