Red Bull has made the ruthless decision to demote Liam Lawson from the senior team and promote Yuki Tsunoda to the second seat. After just two races, Lawson’s form was poor as he couldn’t get to grips with the difficult RB21. With only eleven races under his belt, the Austrian outfit decided to go with the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda to help unlock their 2025 challenger’s potential.
This will leave Tsunoda making his debut at his home Grand Prix in Japan in front of his adoring fans. But that isn’t the only change Red Bull makes for the event. The Milton Keynes-based team are reportedly set to turn white with a striking one-off livery.
Red Bull to run white livery for Tsunoda’s debut race
A weekend of change will see Red Bull run a white livery at the Japanese Grand Prix, according to reports. This is to pay tribute to the engine manufacturer Honda, for their home race. Honda is parting ways with Red Bull before linking up with Aston Martin at the end of the season. Red Bull will partner with Ford to create powertrains from 2026 onward.
The RB21 is expected to be painted white in Japan, along with the red Red Bull logo, with small areas coloured blue. This will be reminiscent of the livery raced in the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, a race where the team scored a double podium finish.
⚠| RUMOUR:
We could see a return of the fan favorite White Bull livery at Japan next week!
This livery was last run in Turkey as a tribute to Honda in 2021.
[📸 @redbullracing ] pic.twitter.com/M9itY10HzK
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) March 28, 2025
Red Bull and Honda have had a good partnership for seven years. Together, they helped Max Verstappen win four world championships. Honda also helped them win two consecutive constructors’ championships in 2022 and 2023, the Austrian team’s first since 2013.
Is the white Red Bull the best one-off livery?
The Red Bull livery is usually very similar every season. It usually has a blue background with the red Red Bull logo. However, on occasion, the team produces a special one-off livery. The white livery is the best looking one-off the Austrian has created, so much so that their sister team, Racing Bulls, has used it as their main livery this season.
This isn’t the first time the Austrian outfit has used a white livery. For the Brazilian GP in 2008, the team used it as a farewell to veteran racer David Coulthard, while teammate Mark Webber used the original.
The Milton Keynes-based team has also run a handful of special liveries. The team placed photos of thousands of fans at the British GP in 2007 and 2012. They also had a special livery for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023, which was designed by fans. However, none have come close to the white Bull.
Another team rivaling the Bulls’ for the best white livery is Williams. Their Gulf livery on the FW45 was used in Singapore, Japan and Qatar in 2023 and was voted for by fans. It was white with streaks of orange and glistened under the lights during the night races. Other fan-favourite one-off liveries were the McLaren Gulf used at the Monaco GP in 2021 and the Ferrari livery used in the 2023 Italian GP with the yellow streaks.
The white Bull is certainly a fan favourite. But what is your favourite special livery? Let us know in the comments below.
