Formula One sponsorship liveries

Formula One sponsorship liveries have been used since the 1968 season. Before the arrival of sponsorship liveries in 1968 the nationality of the team determined the colour of a car entered by the team, e.g. cars entered by Italian teams were rosso corsa red, cars entered by French teams were bleu de France blue, and cars entered by British teams (with several exceptions, such as cars entered by teams Rob Walker, Brabham and McLaren) were British racing green. Major sponsors such as BP, Shell, Tamoil, Ellesse, Nordica, Longines, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Firestone had pulled out of the sport ahead of this season, prompting the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile to allow unrestricted sponsorship.
Team Gunston became the first Formula One team to implement sponsorship brands as a livery on their Brabham car, which privately entered for John Love in orange, brown and gold colours of Gunston cigarettes in the first race of the 1968 season, the 1968 South African Grand Prix, on 1 January 1968. In the next race, the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix, Team Lotus became the first works team to follow this example, with Graham Hill's Lotus 49B entered in the red, gold and white colors of Imperial Tobacco's Gold Leaf brand. With rising costs in Formula One, sponsors becoming more important and thus liveries reflected the teams' sponsors.
Tobacco advertising was common in motorsport; as bans spread throughout the world, teams began using an alternate livery which alluded to the tobacco sponsor. At historical events, cars are allowed to use the livery which was used when the car was actively competing.
Alfa Romeo was a Formula One constructor between 1950 and 1951, and again between 1979 and 1985. In 1950–1951 and 1979, the team used the rosso corsa (racing red) national color of Italy. In 1980, they switched to a livery sponsored by Philip Morris's Marlboro cigarette brand. In 1984, the Italian clothing brand Benetton took over Alfa Romeo's livery sponsorship, which they held until the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo from Formula One at the end of 1985. Alfa Romeo returned as a constructor in 2019 with the rebranding of Sauber and exit after 2023.
Toro Rosso was rebranded as Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2020 to promote Red Bull fashion brand AlphaTauri. Along with the rebrand, the team is no longer a junior team but a sister team to Red Bull Racing. The team was rebranded as RB in 2024.
Renault was rebranded as Alpine F1 Team in 2021 to promote Renault brand Alpine.
Starting in the 1970s and going for decades until ending in mid-2002, Arrows, that was known as Footwork for a few years in the 1990s, had distinctive liveries, like the unusual Ruffles sponsorship in Footwork, an all-black car in the 1998 season, and an orange car in its final years.
Aston Martin competed in Formula One in 1958–59. The team returned in 2021 with the rebranding of Racing Point by Lawrence Stroll.
Benetton Formula Ltd. was a Formula One constructor that participated from 1986 to 2001. The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a worldwide chain of clothing stores of the same name. In 2000 the team was purchased by Renault, but competed as Benetton for the 2001 season. In 2002 the team became Renault F1. From 1991 to 1993, Camel sponsored the Benetton team, but, from 1994 to 2001 the main sponsor was Mild Seven.
In its Dallara years, Scuderia Italia raced with a livery slightly similar to Ferrari (rosso corsa with white details and black wings), but prior to the absorption by Minardi in 1993, when raced with Lola cars, had a white livery with red and yellow flames.
After having been an engine supplier in the 1980s and again since 2000, BMW entered Formula One with a works team of its own in 2006 after buying Sauber. The livery was based on the traditional BMW Motorsport team colours of white with light blue, dark blue and a little red (in an almost purple shade). White is also the original national racing colour of Germany, while white and blue are the colours of Bavaria and of BMW itself. On 27 November 2009, BMW agreed to sell the team back to its original founder, Peter Sauber.
Prior to sponsorships, Brabham raced in turquoise with a gold band running across the car. This later changed to green and gold, the racing colours of Australia, as a mark of the nationality of the team's owner Jack Brabham. A Brabham car was the first Formula One car painted in the livery of a team's sponsor when Team Gunston as a privateer team entered a private Brabham car at the first race of the 1968 season (the 1968 South African Grand Prix). In 1975 and 1976, Brabham received sponsorship from Martini; in 1976 the color scheme changed from white to red with light blue trim. The primary sponsor changed to Parmalat in 1978, with the cars retaining a variant of the same red and blue colors. With the team's switch to BMW engines in 1982, the new livery consisted of a clean dark blue and white with a stylized BMW "kidney grille" on the nose. This scheme was retained throughout the BMW years, even through a sponsorship change to Olivetti in 1985, until 1989. (This unusual representation of the engine supplier, specifically BMW, in the color scheme was revived by Williams when they debuted their own BMW cars in 2000.) In 1989, Brabham signed with Bioptron, a brand of Zepter International, which continued until the team was bought by Middlebridge Group. Since then, it was sponsored by many Japanese companies like Garage Italiya, a company that imports Italian cars in Japan, Autobacs, Nippon Shinpan, and Mitsukoshi. In its final season Brabham raced in blue and pink livery of the Japanese metal group Seikima-II.
After Honda pulled out of F1 at the end of 2008, team boss Ross Brawn struggled to find a buyer to save the team, eventually buying it himself. A lack of sponsors resulted in the white livery, with flashes of bright yellow and black. Towards the end of the season, the team arranged one-race sponsor deals with a variety of major local companies, including Canon, Mapfre, Itaipava and Qtel.
Brawn GP dominated the early part of the 2009 season, with Jenson Button winning six of the first seven races. As other teams improved their cars, Brawn struggled for pace, but still recorded several podiums during the rest of the year. Their strong start and consistent finish was enough to secure the Constructors World Championship at the first (and only) attempt, as well as the drivers title with Jenson Button. At the end of the season, the team was purchased by engine supplier Mercedes-Benz.
British American Racing competed in Formula One from 1999 to 2005. The name was a reference to the team owner, British American Tobacco, hence the livery which included two of its main cigarette brands. In their debut season, the team wished to have its two cars painted in different liveries (one 555, the other Lucky Strike), but this was forbidden by the rules. So the team decided on a unique two-sided design, with the blue 555 livery of the right side of the car, and the red and white Luckies livery on the left and a zipper design on the middle. .
The first cars entered by the BRM works team were a pale duck-egg green (any shade of green represented British racing green, the national racing colour of Great Britain), but this was later replaced for aesthetic reasons by a very dark metallic shade of grey-green. BRM cars entered by non-British privateer teams wore their respective national racing colours. The team acquired their first significant commercial sponsorship from Yardley for the 1970 season, running in white with black, gold and ochre stripes in a stylised "Y" wrapping around the car's bodywork. In the 1972 season the team became the first F1 team sponsored by Marlboro and at the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix the BRM team achieved the first win for a Marlboro-sponsored F1 car.
The Lotus team, which made its début in 2010, was renamed to Caterham F1 in 2012. It was formally from Malaysia but still had a livery dominated by British racing green, like the traditional Lotus livery for many years.
In its first years, Coloni was sponsored by Himont and Montefluos, two subsidiary companies of Montedison
In keeping with their Italian roots, the Ferrari works team has always kept a red colour in the tradition of rosso corsa, the national racing colour of Italy, except for last two races in the 1964 season (the 1964 United States Grand Prix and 1964 Mexican Grand Prix) when Enzo Ferrari let his cars be entered by the NART team in American national racing colours (white with blue lengthwise "Cunningham racing stripes") to protest against Italian racing authorities. However, Ferrari cars entered by non-Italian privateer teams wore their respective national racing colours until the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix when Belgian driver Olivier Gendebien privately entered a Ferrari car in the Belgian racing yellow colour. Over the years, rosso corsa has been combined with white parts and with various sponsorship schemes, but Ferrari has never fully let their cars be dominated by the sponsorship livery like many other teams have. This changed in the 1990s when Ferrari replaced their traditional rosso corsa colour with a "Marlboro red" which is noticeably lighter; this colour remains despite the ban on tobacco sponsorship. Ferrari had Marlboro as the team's title sponsor (renamed as Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) from 1997 until the 2011 European Grand Prix and as one of team's main sponsors from 1993 to 2017 (Marlboro had first been seen on Ferrari F1 cars in 1984 largely due to then driver Michele Alboreto's personal sponsorship with the brand). Philip Morris continued to sponsor Ferrari as Mission Winnow in 2018 (renamed as Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow). Ferrari reverted to its rosso corsa colors in 2022 after Philip Morris lost its livery sponsorship rights.
Haas entered Formula One in 2016.
The Embassy Hill, founded by two-time World Champion Graham Hill, raced during the 1975 season with Imperial Tobacco's Embassy brand as title sponsor. The cars were predominantly white, with a red vertical stripe behind the cockpit. The team folded following the aircraft accident in which Hill, driver Tony Brise and four other team members were killed in November 1975.
Honda first raced in Formula One from 1964 to 1968. The cars were entered in an all-white livery with a red circle (duplicating the Japanese flag), the national racing colour of Japan. The company won two races but left F1 at the end of the 1968 season, before returning as an engine supplier in the 1980s. Honda in the 1990s never raced, but created prototypes like the RC100 and the RA099 tested at Suzuka Circuit. After a decade away from the sport, Honda returned again as an engine supplier in 2001, before buying the British American Racing team and entering F1 as a constructor in 2006. For the 2006 season, Honda continued with the BAT sponsorship with the Lucky Strike logo, but BAT pulled out for 2007. From 2007, the only logos on the car are the Honda badge, the Bridgestone logo, and the logo of Honda's environmental awareness program, Earth Dreams. For 2007, the livery itself was a picture of the Earth on a black background. For 2008, however, there are only pieces of the image of Earth on a mainly white background, as opposed to the whole of the Earth being on Honda's car.
The HRT Formula 1 Team competed for just three seasons, between 2010 and 2012. In that time, the team competed with three different liveries, this was due to a lack of sponsor continuity.
Jaguar used green to reflect its British nationality, just like British teams in the first decades of Formula One all used British racing green.
Jordan Grand Prix competed in Formula One from 1991–2005. Both in 1991 and 1995 the Irish-licensed team entered cars painted in green, the racing colour of Ireland. Between 1997–2005, they were known for their distinctive bright yellow livery.
LEC was a Formula One team and constructor from the United Kingdom. They participated in ten Grands Prix, using a March in 1973. In 1977 they built their own car, the LEC CRP1.
Ligier always raced with the Bleu de France, the national racing colour of France, with red, black or white parts.
At the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix the Lotus, initially using the British racing green, became the first works team (second only to Team Gunston entering a private Brabham car at the 1968 South African Grand Prix) to implement sponsorship brands as a livery when the possibility to do so was created in 1968. Lotus also had one of the longest sponsorship cooperations in Formula One history, making the black and gold of its John Player Special seasons (1972-1978 and 1981-1986) one of the best known liveries to this day.
The new Lotus team made its début in 2010 and was renamed to Caterham F1 in 2012. It was formally from Malaysia but still had a livery dominated by British racing green, like the old Lotus team had for many years.
Renault was renamed Lotus in 2012, following an agreement with Caterham F1. The team was owned by Luxembourg-based venture capital group Genii Capital and named after its branding partner Group Lotus. Its livery, introduced back in 2011 with Renault R31, was designed as a tribute to the Team Lotus cars of 1981–1986 and their famous John Player Special liveries.
Manor entered Formula One in 2016 after being renamed from Marussia.
In the mid-1970s, the works March team (March Engineering) often ran different sponsorship liveries on individual cars, under multiple entrant names.
Marussia entered Formula One in 2012 after Virgin Racing was renamed. The team was renamed as Manor in 2016.
Mastercard Lola folded after failing to qualify in the opening race.
Except for the Matra MS9 car, entered by the British Ken Tyrrell's privateer team Matra International in the British racing green at the first race of the 1968 season (the 1968 South African Grand Prix), all Matra F1 cars entered by both the French works team Equipe Matra Sports (1967-1968 and 1970-1972) and the British privateer team Matra International (1968-1969) always kept the Bleu de France, the national racing colour of France.
McLaren's first Formula One car raced at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix was painted white with a green stripe to represent a fictional Yamura team in John Frankenheimer's film Grand Prix. Though the team has been based and licensed in Britain, McLaren has never entered their cars in the British racing green. McLaren signed its first title sponsor in 1972 with Yardley. McLaren and Marlboro had the longest sponsorship deal between a team and its title sponsor in Formula One history which lasted for 23 consecutive seasons (1974–1996). McLaren then aligned with West (1997–2005) and Vodafone (2007–2013) as their title sponsor.
Mercedes-Benz first competed in Formula One during the 1954 and 1955 seasons. This was in the time before sponsorship liveries and the team was using an all silver livery, the national racing color of Germany. The team was absent from Formula One after this, returning in 1994 as an engine supplier.
Mercedes-Benz rejoined Formula One as a team in 2010 after having purchased the Brawn GP team on 16 November 2009. On 21 December 2009 it signed a €30 million per season contract with Petronas as title sponsor. The blueish green livery color of Petronas is just present as fine lines at the side of the car, which overall is mainly painted in silver like historic Mercedes race cars of the 1930s and 1950s. To celebrate their 125th anniversary in motorsport, Mercedes-Benz decided to launch a special one-off livery for the 2019 German Grand Prix. The livery was a homage to the first racing cars that Mercedes made.
Midland F1 competed for only one year, 2006. They took over Jordan in 2005, but Midland sold it in late 2006 to Spyker. They were the first F1 team to compete with a Russian license. (After Spyker's takeover in mid-2006, the team changed its livery to orange and name to Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007, the team competed as Spyker F1.)
As the longest lasting Formula 1 backrunners, Minardi had an enormous variety of sponsors during its 21 seasons, but still managed to have a predominantly black painted car most of the time.
Penske competed in the Formula One World Championship as a chassis constructor from 1974 to 1977 and as a works team from 1974 to 1976 and maintained its team's livery and sponsors throughout its three seasons competing in Formula One as a team.
Prost competed in Formula One for five seasons, with similar liveries in each season, despite changing sponsors.
The team traces its roots back to Minardi (formed in 1985). Minardi was bought over by Red Bull in 2006 and was reformed as Scuderia Toro Rosso as a junior team to Red Bull Racing (RBR). In 2020, Toro Rosso was rebranded as Scuderia AlphaTauri to promote Red Bull's fashion brand of the same name while becoming the sister team to RBR. In 2024, AlphaTauri was rebranded as RB and signed with Visa and Cash App as co-title sponsors to enter the season as Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team (shortened as VCARB). In 2025, the RB name was expanded to Racing Bulls.
In 2018, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll led a consortium to buy Force India, which was placed in administration after 11 years in the sport, and entered 2019 as Racing Point. For 2021, the team was rebranded as Aston Martin after Stroll bought a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin Lagonda.
Rebaque is the only Mexican team in F1 to date. Named after its driver Héctor Rebaque, it always raced with a brown and gold livery.
Jaguar Racing was renamed Red Bull Racing after the former was bought from Ford on 15 November 2004 by the energy drink company. Red Bull's involvement in Formula One dates back to 1995, when it first sponsored the Sauber team. The deal with Sauber lasted until the end of the 2004 season.
Since its first season in 2005 the car livery did not change much, always keeping Red Bull as the main sponsor. This changed in 2013, when Infiniti became the team's title sponsor and Red Bull's branding on the car was reduced.
Red Bull have used special liveries on multiple occasions, supporting the release of upcoming films and company's charity program Wings for Life.
Renault competed as a constructor in Formula One in three different periods, from the 1977-1985, 2002-2011 and 2016-2020 seasons. Renault returned to Formula One in 2002 by buying the Benetton team. The team had a title contract with Mild Seven from 2002 to 2006, before switching to ING Group from the 2007 season to the 2009 Italian Grand Prix when ING withdrew all association with Renault. The team was sold and competed as Lotus from the 2012-2015 seasons, before Renault bought back the team and returned as a constructor in 2016. The Renault Group subsequently rebranded the team as Alpine team in 2021.
Sauber is a Swiss Formula One constructor that joined the Formula One grid in 1993. Sauber was bought by BMW at the end of the 2005 season and the team competed as BMW Sauber F1 Team from 2006 to 2009. On 27 November 2009, BMW agreed to sell the team back to its original founder, Peter Sauber. The 2010 season marked Sauber's return as an independent constructor. Sauber was rebranded and competed as Alfa Romeo Racing (later Alfa Romeo F1 Team) from 2019 to 2023 in a title sponsorship deal with Alfa Romeo. Sauber will compete as the Audi factory team in 2026.
Spyker took part in only one season of Formula One. The main colour of the car did not directly reflect the sponsorships but was the orange racing colour of the Netherlands.
Stewart lasted for only 3 years before being bought out by its engine supplier, Ford, and being rebranded as Jaguar, but managed to win a race in its final season, 1999. Stewart had a tartan decoration on its cars to represent its Scottish nationality.
Super Aguri was set up before the 2006 season by Aguri Suzuki, with the help of Honda Racing, to provide a drive for former Honda driver Takuma Sato. For the 2006 season's SA05 and SA06, their car was based on the 2002 Arrows A23, after which, for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, they ran cars based on the previous year's Honda chassis.
Toro Rosso is the sister team of Red Bull Racing. Since it originated from the buyout of Minardi, its name means Red Bull in Italian. At the beginning, the team used to have the same name and sponsors as its parent team, with the major difference being the presence of a scarlet "charging bull" painted over the engine cowling.
Tyrrell Racing competed in Formula One from 1970–1998. Its traditional colour was blue and white, or a combination as such, for most of the 1970s and 1980s. The cars were more white during the mid to late 1990s.
The Virgin Group's involvement with Formula One started in 2009 when they decided to sponsor Brawn GP for that season. On 30 November 2009 it was reported that the Manor GP, one of the four newcomers teams for the 2010 season, would be rebranded as Virgin Racing.
Williams, as a major constructor, is rare in modern F1 in that they have no manufacturer backing. Over the years, their supply of engines and other major components has often changed, meaning that their livery is renewed more often than most of their rivals. The BMW-engined Williams cars from 2001 to 2006 featured a dark blue and white scheme.