Colors
The origin of colors in race would come from the
Gordon Bennett Cup. The wealthy owner of the New York Herald offered, during
the period 1900-1905, the Automobile Clubs to organize
an International Prize during which national teams were confronted
and colours were attributed to distinguish them.
Italy : red
Alfa Romeo Type 158 1950
Great Britain : Racing green
Lotus 43 1966
They became definitive in the 1920s and 1930s after the
Bugatti blue and the Alfa Romeo red became popular in many
races (originally the red colour was for the United-States). allowed teams to use extra-sport sponsorships during the
1968 Formula One World Championship. Lotus became the
first cars to give up the green colour of the English teams.
On June 3, 1934, the Mercedes-Benz W25 white were
sanded to the bare sheet in order to reach the maximum
weight allowed. This is how they gave birth to the "Silver
Arrows", with their bare and polished aluminum body that
became the colour for Germany. Matra, as well as Ligier kept sporting the French blue,
Ferrari stayed faithful to the Italian red, Mercedes Grand Prix
kept the typical silver colour, and Jaguar Racing went back to
the «British Racing Green» livery.
However, to cope with the increasingly high costs of
competition, the FIA International Sports Commission
For its part, Renault used both the national blue and the
traditional yellow of the brand.
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