When you think of the races at night, Singapore should be the first track that pops into your head—because Marina Bay Street Circuit is home to the Night Race! Here’s a little nostalgic hit about the old days: Sebastian Vettel was crowned the Lion of Singapore for bagging the most wins on this very circuit. That aside, we think Singapore is also where teams show up to the grid with a whole new look—and while Red Bull Racing pulled the plug from one of the teams sporting special liveries, we’ve compiled this weekend’s special designs: liveries from McLaren to RB, and helmets from Lando Norris to Zhou Guanyu.
The Woking-outfit team unveiled a one-off livery to celebrate their Formula 1 heritage, making its grand entrance during the Singapore Grand Prix. Collaborating with their sponsor OKX, McLaren came up with a color-scheme design nicknamed the ‘Legend Reborn’—a tribute to the years when the red-and-white design of McLaren’s 1981-1996 MP4 cars was one of the most dominant in Formula 1. This time, McLaren says that the livery integrates their iconic papaya color into the famed livery, honoring thirteen legendary McLaren drivers who contributed to their iconic history—such as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Niki Lauda—with their names plastered on the livery on the cockpit. This memorable take on an iconic livery is McLaren’s way of uniting old and new fans—and we’re pretty sure we’re not the only ones who took a trip down memory lane.
After McLaren announced their special livery, it seems that the British driver for McLaren, Lando Norris, didn’t want to miss out on the occasion—because he hopped into the Marina Bay Street Circuit with a special Quadrant-themed helmet! For those who are unfamiliar with Quadrant, Norris founded the esports organization in 2020, expressing the driver’s deep love for racing, gaming, content and apparel. Norris shifted from his eminent fluorescent green color—and although it is also Quadrant’s main color scheme, the brand is turning liquid carbon as a rebrand that sets to take place early 2025. During the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix, Norris also collaborated with Quadrant to sport a design that celebrated the brand partnering with Halo Championship Series (HCS). Don’t we love to see it when racing joins forces with gaming?
Albon took a piece of his home to Singapore with his one-off helmet collaboration with Monsoon Valley—Thailand’s bestselling and award-winning wine—and Thailand’s top contemporary artist Gongkan for the ‘THAI PASSION, THAI PRIDE’ campaign. The helmet highlights the Phaya Naga (Naga) as a celebration of Thai talent to the world, marking more of the design’s significance after the Thai government identified the Naga as a national symbol in 2022. The campaign featured fans who were invited to vote for their favorite Naga Gongkan-created designs, and the design with the most votes will be used by Albon to race at the Singapore Grand Prix.
2024 is the year when pets invade—and this time, Zhou Guanyu will be driving the street circuit of Singapore in a helmet featuring a cameo from his cat, Sweetcorn! The design did not just portray Zhou’s little paw-friend, but also the iconic Marina Bay Sands. We might not be seeing Sweetcorn in the paddock, but the good news is: we’ll be seeing the little guy with Zhou, on track!
RB is going double-denim in Singapore. So often, we see Yuki Tsunoda wearing denim in the paddock—and after the team teased Tsunoda’s picture on Instagram captioning ‘all the cool kids wear denim,’ you guessed it right: they’re racing with a denim livery. After Red Bull Racing abandoned its plan to showcase the fan-design livery for it costing the car extra weight, RB certainly shocked fans by being the second team to announce this special livery. The denim-inspired livery is a homage to HUGO’s iconic style—this being the first fashion-themed livery in thirty years, the last after Benetton donned the historic ‘united colors’ livery in the 90s. Fashion had always gone hand-in-hand with the sport, but RB aced it by reviving the trend back on track. It seems like Singapore has become the circuit where fans reminisce about the old times!
Mercedes is next on the list of teams running special liveries for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. Paying tribute to their long-time title sponsor Petronas, the W15’s silver color will be replaced with green—only for this weekend in Singapore to celebrate Petronas’ 50th anniversary, as Petronas’ home base Malaysia no longer hosts a round of Formula 1. Like always, Mercedes’ livery sparks sleek and bold with their predominantly black base color—and this one-off livery is beyond striking!
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