Aston Martin will switch to British racing green livery for 2021 F1 season

In 2021, the Racing Point Formula 1 team will rebrand itself as Aston Martin, and as part of that move, Aston is set to exchange its current pink livery for the more traditional color of British racing green (BRG). As the name implies, BRG is the classic color of teams fielded from Britain. In an interview with Autosport, driver Lance Stroll, son of team owner and Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, stated he “believes” the change will take place next year.

The color takes its name from the early days of grand prix racing, when a car’s paint color revealed the nationality of its team. French teams’ cars were painted French racing blue, Italian cars were painted Rosso corsa (red), and Belgian cars were painted yellow. Caterham and Jaguar were the last F1 teams to be painted green, albeit in those two instances, both used a brighter green than the darker hue of BRG. Autosport says that the Aston cars will retain some pink highlights, as the team will continue to be sponsored by water-treatment tech company Best Water Technology (BWT).

This news comes on the heels of the announcement that Sebastian Vettel will replace Racing Point’s driver Sergio Perez. Vettel is leaving Ferrari at the end of this season after Ferrari opted to not renew his contract. As one of F1’s most successful drivers, Vettel won four consecutive titles from 2010 to 2013 when driving for Red Bull and won 53 grand prix races, a record bested only by Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Clearly owner Stroll’s intentions must be taken seriously; in addition to signing Vettel to a multi-year contract, he has plans to increase Aston’s workforce by 20 percent and recently opened a new factory in Wales, where it is building its new DBX SUV.

This will not be the first time Aston’s cars have sported the traditional color of Britain. Most famously, the DBR1 that won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans piloted by Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori wore BRG. In 2018, the manufacturer switched to a more vibrant shade of green for its Aston Martin Racing sports car teams in the FIA World Endurance Championship and wore the livery for its GTE-Pro class victory at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans.