From Star Wars to Camobull: Five of Red Bull’s best one-off F1 liveries

While the Milton Keynes outfit has largely run its cars in the blue, red and yellow colours of the Red Bull logo since it entered F1 in 2005, there have been occasions when it has bucked the trend for both shakedown runs and grands prix.  

That will be the case once again in Turkey with Red Bull’s cars featuring a “predominantly white” livery to celebrate its partnership with Honda on a weekend that should have marked the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of the manufacturer’s exit from F1 at the end of the year. 

Here’s a look at some of our favourite examples of when Red Bull departed from its traditional colours…

Star Wars - 2005 Monaco Gand Prix

A long time ago at a street circuit in Monte Carlo, Red Bull embraced the Dark Side in a special livery to promote the release of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. 

It marked a full on takeover during Red Bull's inaugural season in F1, with its RB1 sporting a Star Wars-inspired livery and pit crew dressed as stormtroopers. There was even an appearance from Darth Vadar, Chewbacca and Star Wars creator George Lucas. 

But the Force did not turn out to be strong for Red Bull as David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi both retired.

Things went much better a year later at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, when Red Bull ran a Superman livery and Coulthard turned in a heroic drive to claim the team’s first podium. 

Celebrations included the Scot turning up to the podium wearing a Superman cape, before Red Bull team principal Christian Horner dived into the pool wearing only a red cape. 

Wings for Life - 2012 British Grand Prix 

Red Bull ran a special livery on Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber’s cars for the 2012 British Grand Prix that featured more than 25,000 photos that had been sent in by fans.

It was all in aid of Wings for Life, the spinal cord research charity, with Red Bull matching every donation made as the initiative raised more than €1million for a fantastic cause. 

The collage of photos created a stunning, sparkling livery that Webber scored his ninth and final F1 victory in. 

Red Bull ran a similar scheme at the 2007 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

‘Camobull’ - 2015 Jerez pre-season test

Red Bull caught the eye in pre-season testing at Jerez ahead of the 2015 F1 season when its Renault-powered RB11 emerged for the first time in a black and white camouflage livery. 

The team had elected not to carry out an official launch or car unveiling prior to testing, and so its 2015 challenger proved to be the subject of great attention in the F1 paddock when it broke cover for the first time.

Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat took turns in driving the camouflaged Red Bull, which hid intricate aerodynamic developments from the prying eyes of its main rivals. 

Unfortunately, we would never see the eye-catching livery again as Red Bull reverted to its traditional colours for the start of the season. 

'Special edition’ - 2018 Silverstone shakedown 

Red Bull launched its RB14 in a distinctively different look ahead of the 2018 F1 season during a shakedown event at Silverstone. 

The striking blue and black ‘special edition’ design was an instant fan favourite, but like its ‘camobull’ predecessor, it would never actually go on to race in a grand prix. 

Red Bull had to curt short its 100km filming day at the British Grand Prix venue when Ricciardo suffered a low-speed crash in damp conditions. 

The four-time world champions also launched their 2019 car - the RB15 - with a similar one-off concept livery in an aggressive black and red design for their next Silverstone shakedown event. 

Coulthard's white car - 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix 

This weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix will not mark the first time Red Bull has ran a predominantly white car. 

At the 2008 season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull designed a special one-off car to mark David Coulthard’s final race in F1. 

Coulthard’s unique colour scheme helped raise money and awareness for the Red Bull-backed Wings for Life charity. 

It also marked the first time that Red Bull had run its two cars in different liveries, with the team receiving approval from the FIA to run Coulthard’s car in alternative colours to his teammate Webber. 

Coulthard’s final grand prix lasted just a matter of seconds before he suffered race-ending suspension damage following contact with the Williams pair of Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima at Turn 2. 

Red Bull will be hoping for better fortune when it runs a white livery this time around…