The Purple Bull RB8 which carried Sebastian Vettel to his third world championship title has reappeared since then in lots of Purple Bull’s completely different liveries.
Nevertheless for its newest showrun in Houston, Texas final week the group took the bizarre step of repainting it within the colors of its second group: RB.
Groups often run previous automobiles in present liveries to replicate their present sponsors. However for apparent causes this can be very uncommon for a group to color its automobile within the colors of a rival. Nevertheless Purple Bull’s relationship to RB is in contrast to every other on the grid.
Uniquely, the Purple Bull drinks firm owns two System 1 groups. RB is the third identification it has given its second group.
RB initially competed as Toro Rosso between 2006 and 2019, then turned AlphaTauri, then was rebranded once more this season. Whereas Purple Bull received the constructors’ championship and Vettel clinched the drivers’ title in 2012, Toro Rosso ended the season ninth out of 12 groups with its STR7.
Purple Bull Junior Group member Arvid Lindblad, who completed fourth in System 3 this yr, had his first run in an F1 automobile on the Houston occasion. Former Purple Bull driver David Coulthard additionally appeared within the automobile’s successor, the 2013 championship-winning RB9, painted within the group’s present livery.
Purple Bull’s newest rebranding of its second group was partly finished in order that it may benefit from sponsorship offers struck by the world champions. Money App, certainly one of RB’s title sponsors, beforehand appeared on Purple Bull’s automobiles, the place it had a a lot smaller presence.
RB’s principal sponsors are particularly focusing on the US market the place F1’s proprietor Liberty Media is searching for to increase, having elevated the variety of races there to a few. The group launched its newest automobile in Las Vegas and ran a particular livery for the primary of this yr’s US rounds, the Miami Grand Prix in Could.
A few of Purple Bull’s rivals have raised considerations over the potential benefits they might acquire by proudly owning a number of groups.
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Footage: Purple Bull Houston showrun
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