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McLaren CEO Zak Brown thinks that Formula 1 should look at the possibility of allowing one-off liveries in the future. Under the current regulations, teams must run the same livery across both of its cars for the entire season.
In 1999, BAR attempted to run different tobacco sponsors on its two cars, but was blocked from doing so. In 2008, Red Bull ran a white livery at the Brazilian Grand Prix for David Coulthard's final race in the sport. And Brown thinks that a rethink of the rules would be positive for F1.
"I think what you could see and what I would be supportive of, and it's not currently allowed, is – and IndyCar does this, as does NASCAR – is changing paint schemes throughout the year," he said at the Motorsports Leaders Business Forum.
"I still think I'd like to see it as two cars, but if you were going to Monaco and you have a big programme going with one your partners, and for that weekend you wanted to turn it in to a Dell Technologies car or whatever the case may be, but both would be the same [you could do that].
"So the fans still knew that's McLaren, that's Ferrari, whoever the team may be. I think that might be a new innovation with partnerships in Formula 1 that's not quite to the extreme of seeing different cars in totally different liveries, because I think those fans are more focused on the driver."
However, Brown does believe that restrictions would need to be put in place to prevent all twenty cars running different liveries, stating that a fan should be able to recognise the team, rather than the driver.
"I think [it doesn't happen in] Formula 1 because each team is so recognisable by its livery," he said. "I think if you had 20 different liveries out there it might start to get confusing as to who is who, whereas in NASCAR the fans tend to be more driver-centric, so they'll recognise Jimmie Johnson in the Lowes car, whereas they recognise Fernando Alonso in a McLaren. So I think the sport is different."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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f1ski
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20+ race season allow different livery. make the number more prominent.Let Teams have permanent numbers and have the campion have a uniquely panted engine cover or wing. The number can then be associated with the team and the livery less important.