List of International Auto Racing Colors - History

History

The colours most likely have their origin in the national teams competing in the Gordon Bennett Cup, which was held annually in 1900-1905. Although colours were not assigned every year, the competition in 1900 assigned blue to France, yellow to Belgium, white to Germany and red to the USA, and the competitions in 1903 and 1905 added green for the UK. Colours were definitely established in the 1920s and 1930s era of Grand Prix motor racing, when blue Bugatti of France and the red Alfa Romeo of Italy dominated many races.

In the 1930s the Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams did not apply the traditional German white paint, and the bare sheets of metal gave rise to the term Silver Arrows. Porsche in the 1950s and 1960s also retained the silver colouring, although other German teams in the 1960s (such as BMW) returned to white paint. Other German manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz and Audi (Auto Union) used silver paint when they returned to international racing in the 1990s. It is not known why the German teams in the 1930s did not apply white paint, although a myth developed that it was due to the need to be under a weight limit; however the first "Silver Arrow" raced in 1932, before a weight limit was imposed.

In the spring of 1968, sponsorship liveries, which already had been used in the United States for some years, were also allowed in international racing. Team Gunston was the first Formula One team to paint their cars in the livery of their sponsors when they entered a private Brabham for John Love, painted in the colours of Gunston cigarettes, in the 1968 South African Grand Prix. British Racing Green soon vanished from the cars of British private teams, although the Rosso Corsa used by Scuderia Ferrari and Alfa Romeo has been in continuous use to the present day, albeit in a modified form.

In the 2000s, the traditional colours have resurfaced in a few cases, such as the green Jaguar Racing F1 cars and Aston Martin sports cars, the white BMW Sauber F1 or the silver Mercedes.

The annual A1 Grand Prix series of 2005-2009 featured national teams, driving identical cars with differing colour schemes. Initially, most schemes were based on the respective national flags; some teams with different traditional sporting colours have since switched, including A1 Team Australia and A1 Team India. The old national racing colors were not so popular among these teams.