zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Red Bull's Boring New Formula One Look Falls As Flat As Its Finish
Red Bull's Boring New Formula One Look Falls As Flat As Its Finish-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:34

Matte finishes! If you thought you were rid of them in all their boring dullness in 2008, sorry. Without Infiniti to add purple highlights to this year’s Red Bull F1 car, the eXtReMe energy drink folks have opted for a plainer, duller livery rendered in the aftermarket’s terrible bro-finish of choice. It’s awful!

It’s not that I’m 100% against the use of matte on a car. Designers can create with it, particularly when they use an appealing mix of finishes or colors that highlight the details or contours on a car.

This one doesn’t do any of that. It’s just flat, a fact which is exacerbated by Red Bull’s primary-color-heavy aesthetic. The simplified logos might have looked half-decent had they been rendered in anything but complete dullness, but even those just fade into meh on the matte car.

Expanses of blue not directly lit up by the stage lights just look black, and not even a nice black. It’s the same kind of flat rattle-can-style finish you’d find on a half-finished project Civic that’s been listed on Craigslist because that lazy bum kid isn’t paying his share of Grandma’s rent.

They could have played that up! They could have given an F1 car a rat rod/project car/apocalypse-mobile aesthetic to make the matte finish more cool than played-out. They could have even added roughed-up spots of (fake, illustrated) bondo and rust into the design—but they didn’t.

Opting for an entirely dull car is just lazy. Red Bull surely has some of the best design talent in the world on speed-dial and they whip this snoozer out? C’mon. I expect more from these guys.

At least Red Bull’s new racing suits are a little interesting with the subtle bull silhouettes in the background. Daniel Ricciardo seems to be swimming in his, however, Puma’s top-of-the-line F1 suit fit the same way on Sebastian Vettel last year. Perhaps they’re finally realizing that racing firesuits are just onesies for grown-ups and are making them fit like comfy pajamas accordingly. Pajamas rule. Why not?

All-matte cars, though? That’s a groan-worthy flashback to the last decade that no one needed. Naturally, this is the new livery applied to an old car, as Red Bull doesn’t want to give away anything on their 2016 design away until the last minute. The new RB12 F1 car will finally debut at the Circuit de Catalunya tests on Monday, according to .

Here are some more details from the team’s livery reveal today. Fair warning: you may want to have one of Red Bull’s drinks before scrolling down in order to keep from falling asleep.

Contact the author at .

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
The partially North Carolina-based squad has determined that after , it needs to mix things up a little. The team’s firebrand has been following an abysmal 2023 season which saw the team score just four points-paying finishes. The team’s , where scored a fourth-place finish, but that season too...
Jul 27, 2025
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
In another unsurprising example of motorsport’s inhospitable mindset toward hiring competent women, the Racing team has announced a new partnership with Ava Rose, a literal , who will... engage with fans? Share knowledge about technology? “Navigate the cutting edge of innovation to create positive change” (whatever that means)? I...
Jul 27, 2025
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
Name a car from the early 1960s built by a famed racing driver with curvy, lightweight aluminum bodywork, a big American engine, and a reputation for being unruly and fast as all hell. Your first thought was probably the famed Shelby Cobra, did you know there was a who...
Jul 27, 2025
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Fellow nerds, get ready to open your wallets, because I’ve found what may be the greatest store of all time. With designs from Formula 1 teams like , you’re sure to find something that fits your particular nostalgic niche. I’d like to introduce you to Racing Retro. I first...
Jul 27, 2025
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
If you follow racing in the U.S., you probably already know about the . Most of the episodes are too much of a distraction to put on as background noise while you work, but a couple of recent entries in his series have been working incredibly well for me....
Jul 27, 2025
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
If you listen to Formula 1 or local officials from Las Vegas and Clark County, you’d probably think November’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a success. Some sources estimated that the city of Las Vegas made over $1 billion in revenue from the event — but there were...
Jul 27, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved