Red-white-blue is back - Martini colors back in Formula 1
Formula 1 will be completely turned on its head in 2014. Hardly anything will stay the same. Except that Vettel and Alonso will drive the same car and the season will start in Melbourne (Australia) again. The rest is history.
The second turbo era begins and the cars have become even less attractive than they already were. The only two pieces of good news are that the engine sound is once again muffled and powerful, in contrast to the deafening screech of previous years, and that a legendary sponsor is returning.
Martini & Rossi first entered the racing scene as a sponsor in 1968 and celebrated many successes with Porsche in prototype and sports car racing and with Lancia in rally racing. The company also appeared in Formula 1 with Tecno, Brabham and Lotus. In 1979, however, the company withdrew from F1 racing, only to make its first tentative attempts again almost 30 years later with Ferrari and a small sticker on the front of the car.
In 2014, after years of largely abstaining from Grand Prix racing, Martini returned to F1 on a large scale with Williams.
It's funny that hardly any current sponsor (Red Bull is an exception) has managed to wrap their car in their colors in such a way that not only a sticker on the car announces some name, but also underlines the design of the car or even improves it a little in today's cars.
The white Williams with the familiar blue and red Martini stripes, on the other hand, clearly shows how a car can be painted and how it can meet with great approval.
The Brazilian Felipe Massa had to leave Ferrari at the end of 2013 and is now trying to build on his great successes with the Martini striped, bright white Williams with Mercedes power.
For me, this combination is the secret favorite for the F1 season starting today. The car has been extremely reliable and fast in all the tests. The signs are good that the beautifully painted car will be seen more often on TV than the inconspicuous dark blue block of previous years.
To celebrate the return of the legendary Martini racing stripes, we have published an extensive retrospective on Martini & Rossi in motor racing .
