Formula 1 and travel have long gone hand-in-hand, with airlines capitalizing on races in their home countries with special liveries, flypasts, and advertising. Today, we'll take a look at some of the iconic F1 liveries on aircraft, representing teams or circuits, both current and historic.
1 Qatar Airways Boeing 777
Starting from the newest, Qatar Airways unveiled its Formula 1 livery last week. The airline became the Global Airline Partner to the series in February and has been prominently advertised at all races, including with naming rights to two races (the Hungarian GP and its home race). The carrier replaced Emirates, who remained the airline partner from 2013 to 2022.
The livery was painted on one of its Boeing 777-300ERs, registered A7-BEL. The paint job includes:
- The F1 logo on the rear.
- The QATAR writing in its usual place.
- A driver and racecar in the carrier's signature colors.
Since it was applied, the aircraft has been flying globally between Doha and New York, Melbourne, and Chicago, allowing planespotters and motorsports fans to enjoy the new colors globally.
2 Gulf Air Boeing 787
Anyone who has visited the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir for the annual Grand Prix in recent years will be familiar with Gulf Air's special Boeing 787-9, which takes part in the flypast before the race. However, it's not just one aircraft carrying a mark of the race.
Since its first Dreamliner delivery in 2018, all the Boeing widebodies feature a joint celebration of Gulf Air's 70th anniversary and carry the race poster, with "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix" on one side and the F1 logo on the other. Gulf Air's F1 livery is understated compared to Qatar or Etihad, but it makes up with its long line of liveries and the sheer number of planes advertising the season opener.
3 Etihad Boeing 787
Another flypast icon is Etihad's Boeing 787-9. With the privilege of being the season closer and Abu Dhabi the home to some nail-biting title deciders, including 2010, 2012, and 2021, Etihad takes its job seriously. The carrier updates the livery on one of its 787-9s to carry the latest edition of the race.
A6-BLV has held the privilege for years and is currently sporting a livery with Etihad at the front of the fuselage and below that, "Formula 1 2022 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix." The red stripe with these words runs to the end of the fuselage with a grey, black, and white take on its usual tail colors, plus a touch of grey on the top of the plane.
4 AlphaTauri HondaJet
While this would better fit our article about the private jets of Formula 1, it would be hard not to mention AlphaTauri's HondaJet HA-420. While technically a private jet, it is the only aircraft painted in team colors, with the clothing brand's logo on the tail, and F1 team name on each side in its colors.
Onboard, you'll find the likes of Team Principal Franz Tost and Red Bull Motorsport boss Helmut Marko, who use the aircraft to fly between the factory in Faenza, Red Bull's in Salzburg, and European race tracks.
It's a nice touch that the aircraft was delivered in 2020, the second year of Honda's engine supply deal with Red Bull and AlphaTauri, which is set to run until 2025. The light private jet can seat 5 to 6 and flies 1,400 nautical miles, more than enough for the European season. Watch out as the plane likely undergoes a repaint in 2023 when the AlphaTauri name is dropped from the F1 team.
5 Team Lotus/Caterham F1 AirAsia A320
In its two seasons in F1, Team Lotus, owned by AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes, managed to get its dark green colors onto one of the airline's Airbus A320-200s. Per Planespotters.net, 9M-AFY was the plane featuring the special livery, which featured the Team Lotus sign on the tail (with AirAsia.com above it), a dark green paint job with a stripe of yellow from the tail to the nose along the top of the aircraft.
After Fernandes purchased Caterham Cars and renamed his entry Caterham F1, the dark green A320 was repainted. The plane could retain its dark green from the new team but featured simpler branding this time around. The team left F1 in 2014, and 9M-AFY has since been repainted in its usual red.
6 Gulf Air A330
If you thought Gulf Air's current F1 livery is understated, you would have loved the one on its A330-200. The golden aircraft featured a checkered flag, gold, and red-and-white strip running through the middle, the old F1 logo on the rear with "Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix" next to it.
While the tail features the golden falcon, the engines are specially painted in red F1 colors with the logo. It's a stunning livery and arguably one of the most prominent in the sky.
7 Etihad A320
If Gulf Air's old F1 livery was about flash, Etihad's A320-200 livery was about stealth. The all-black aircraft featured Etihad's logo in white along the middle, black engines with the F1 logo with a ring of red, and rear features (in huge font) "Formula 1 Etihad Abu Dhabi Grand Prix."
On the tail and tailcone was the front of a red V8 Formula 1 car model. The small 2009 on top of the words was painted over in subsequent years.
We may have missed several more special aircraft liveries, such as Etihad's A340s, so let us know in the comments! Which of the current crop do you love the most? Which ones do you want to see again?