Oracle Red Bull Racing

The Art Of Livery Design: 2025 Japanese Livery

The Art Of… is a series where we delve into the world of artwork and design within Formula 1.

From

helmet

designs

race

suits,

anything

and

everything

will

looked

at,

researched

and

contemplated

this

season.

This

week,

we’re

looking

the

special

2025

Japanese

Livery;

evolution

one

the

most

loved

liveries

the

history

the

sport.

TheOriginal

The now iconic White-Bull livery from the 2021 season, is a design that Formula 1 fans adore. Almost every special livery since has seen fans calling for the return of the white livery.

The original livery was designed to run on the RB16B at the 2021 Japanese Grand Prix to celebrate the partnership between Oracle Red Bull Racing and the Team’s engine partner, Honda. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race at Suzuka was cancelled and so the Team postponed running the livery until the Turkish Grand Prix that year.

The design retained the Team’s now classic red and yellow, Red Bull branding but on a striking white base in homage to the classic Honda RA272 livery from 1965. The celebration of the partnership between the Team and the engine supplier came after the news that Honda had planned to leave the sport at the end of the 2021 season, after a seven-year stint as a power unit supplier for McLaren, Toro Rosso and eventually Oracle Red Bull Racing.

Time To Unleash The White Bull

Two White Bulls On Track

The White Edition Bulls In F1 2021

TheInspiration

The livery has been inspired by the iconic white and red livery that ran on the 1965 Honda RA272 in the Formula 1 season that year. The RA272 was debuted at the 1965 Monaco Grand Prix and that season raced at 8 races, winning the Mexican Grand Prix that year.

Max drives the Honda RA272

Honda’s Type R cars are a legendary badge that came from the RA272 and traditionally have a Championship White paint option with a red Honda badge as a tribute to the iconic Formula 1 car.

Max drives the Honda RA272

In 2019, Max Verstappen had his first taste of the vintage F1 car, getting behind the wheel of the RA272 at Honda’s test facility at Tochigi in Japan.

The pure emotion from the engine and the car itself was incredible. I didn’t even fit properly in the car, but it was an amazing experience for sure.

Max Verstappen

“The pure emotion from the engine and the car itself was incredible. I didn’t even fit properly in the car, but it was an amazing experience for sure.” - Max Verstappen in 2019, speaking to Autosport about driving the Honda RA272

TheModern

The 2025 Japanese Grand Prix saw see the Team run an evolution of the White Bull livery, with feedback from fans heard, and changes made to make the RB21 really stand out on track around the Suzuka International Circuit.

With the decision made to remove the yellow accents, the modern livery takes a step toward being an even closer take on the iconic white and red livery from the original Honda RA272, marking the 60th anniversary of Honda’s historic first win in Formula 1.

The design mirrors the iconic RA272’s Japanese flag motif, featuring the “H” logo on the nose and the classic Honda logo on the rear bodywork. A special logo celebrating 60 years since Honda’s first win will also be displayed on the livery.

Celebrating Honda with White-Hot Japan GP Livery

ORBR Japan 2025 Livery