Renault and Brawn’s new liveries

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Fernando Alonso heads out on track with his re-liveried Renault

While Renault hastily peeled off their ING and Mutua Madrilena stickers, a few garages up Brawn were applying fresh Canon decals to their BGP 001s.

Incredibly, in the first session the unwell Romain Grosjean crashed his R29 into the barriers at the very spot where Nelson Piquet Jnr had his now-infamous crash last year.

Here’s some pictures of the new-look Brawn and Renault liveries.

The de-cluttering of Renault’s awkward paint scheme is the only positive thing, however miniscule, to have resulted from the sorry ‘crashgate’ affair.

Renault haven’t had time to unstitch the ING branding from their team’s kit, but that will likely be done in time for the Japanese Grand Prix next weekend.

It’s possible they may make more substantial changes to the livery to remove the orange and white ING colouring.

The addition of Canon logos to the Brawns harks back to the winning Williams machines of the mid-eighties. It’s quite appropriate, as it looks like no-one has any chance of beating Brawn to the titles this year. Indeed, they could cement the constructors’ championship this weekend.

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Images (C) Brawn GP, Renault/LAT, Bridgestone

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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51 comments on “Renault and Brawn’s new liveries”

    1. That was too funny

      1. that crash was just spooky…

    2. Ghost of turn 17 still haunting Renault & whoever drives the second car

    3. Of all the cars that could’ve crashed there it had to be the 2nd Reanault.

  1. Ugh, that Renault is painted like a chicken!

    The Canon Brawn looks ok.

    1. Did Grosjean realise Alonso wouldn’t benefit from a crash yet? Or is he just practicing? Or kidding?

      1. No, I think that was genuine.

      2. It must be a joke lol

  2. I don’t like the livery less cluttered, it just reminds me of why it is and that Renault really are struggling :( Poor Grosjean, of all the places…

  3. What is of most note of Grosjean’s crash, is that he HARDLY hit the wall. Shows the difference between his “oh no, don’t hit the wall” thinking here and Piquet’s “yes! let’s hit the gas to make sure I wreck it properly”.

    I hope Renault redesign by Japan, as the dual “Renault” labels visible from the profile view look odd. It’s also of note that there are still ING colors all over the cars as well. I imagine this is a practicality issue, as the cars are probably painted that way, and then decals applied for the actual logos. They can peel off decals quickly, but not repaint the whole car.

    1. What is of most note of Grosjean’s crash, is that he HARDLY hit the wall.

      Yes, he’s much better driver than Piquet

      1. I wouldnt say that yet.

        1. Just trying to be ironic!

  4. LOL – wonder if the suspension of the ban should be lifted now, just to put poor Renault out of their misery.

    Heard on the radio that the press room in Singapore erupted with wild cheering and laughter as Grosjean made his homage to recently departed Flavio :)

    Nice to see Br[i]awn[/i] have managed to reel one in. Canon is a nice catch indeed.

    While on the subject of liveries, Lotus colours anyone?

    1. Salty- apparently the Canon deal is for one race only. I’m surprised that Brawn couldn’t find any sponsors this season, but I suppose that just goes to show how bad the recession has been…

      1. As I understood it, Brawn have been playing hardball with wouldbe sponsors on the bottom line. Fair enough if you consider they will most likely start next year as the defending WCC team AND with numbers 1 & 2 on the nose cones. But gotta say that the Virgin deal is off at the end of the year (wasn’t record breaking sums, but Sir Richard sure got in the team pics plenty – smart fella!) and the Honda handshake must have been long since spent.

        Maybe ING looking for a new ride… ;)

        1. Paige Michael-Shetley
          27th September 2009, 5:51

          Brawn have said they have major sponsors coming on board next year, including a title sponsor. Emirates is one of the companies rumored, and there’s also the rumor of the “German company” coming on board.

  5. Ha! Grosjean crashing at turn 17 is the funniest F1 news I’ve seen in a long time…

    1. I’m still wondering if Alonso will go on a 14 lap strategy this time… you see, grosjean is already practicing his part!

  6. I suppose Singapore should consider naming that corner in honor of Renault….Cheaters Curve?,Nelsinho Corner?,Flava Flav Bend?….sorry,I’m not very clever today.Any suggestions?

    1. Eat more fish ;)

      1. LOL – clever Tengil, might use that sometime ;)

        Rookie’s Revenge has the advantage of alliteration, but does sound vaguely like a theme park ride.

    2. Noble from Autosport says that everyone in the paddock is calling it “Piquet Corner.” Well, maybe everyone who isn’t working for Renault. ;)

  7. As the commentators say –

    “It just goes to show it wasnt, Piquets fault, its down to the car.”

    Just not working on that corner.

    :-)

  8. This is the physical shape a F1 driver is in : check out Alonso braking a walnut with his neck –
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMieRlRLzPw&feature=topvideos

    1. Well, there is a skill set that I’m sure is in demand.

    2. StrFerrari4Ever
      26th September 2009, 6:26

      Thats where the magical 6 Tenths Lie aha!

    3. Brilliant video!

    4. What kind of party was that??

  9. Good to see Canon is back in F1, even though I have a Nikon…

  10. More to the point, this dramatically underlines that Grosjean is doing no better than Piquet was doing and in this race he is seconds off the pace. Yes I know he is sick but this is par for him to be lagging way behind Alonso.

    I thought Nelsinho was crap but I’m beginning to credit some of his complaints about the car and the team. Stepping in here was not a smart career move for Grosjean. After a full year of smashing up cars and floating around midfield people will start to say, hey that guy didnt even win the GP2 title, he’s done nothing here, he’s rubbish.

    1. I think only the drivers who finish in the top 1 or 2 places in the GP2 championship are good enough to win races in F1- like Hamilton, Rosberg, Kovalainen, perhaps Glock and probably Hulkenberg.

      But I doubt that drivers who failed to compete for the GP2 title- like Nakajima, Buemi and Grosjean- will be able to cut it in F1.

      1. But by that definition, Nelson Piquet is good enough to win races in F1, as he came 2nd in the 2006 GP2 behind Hamilton, with 102 points to Hamilton’s 114. I haven’t been watching him recently, but I’ve heard his F1 career is not going as well as he might have hoped.

      2. F1 drivers, as in many sports, have become a much more refined creature over the last two decades I think.

        Gone are the days of the gentleman or part-time racer. Todays participants train to the point where they can crack walnuts with their neck muscles (LOL, thanks Bartholomew) and compete in top level triathlons.

        If you or I drove a car around a circuit of some 5km, would we consistantly be within 1 second of each others time? I know I wouldn’t manage that much consistency in myself, let alone against someone else.

        These 20 guys get round the circuit with less than a 1.5sec spread in different team cars. AND they are amazingly consistant within themselves, whilst driving on the edge of adhesion.

        Was in different ages, but Fangio and Senna were the ‘driving athletes’ of their time. Raw talent standouts both. Without the intensity of the current young driver training and racing leagues, they had fewer challengers. A ‘great’ driver could shine then (don’t flame me guys, been F1 fan since the 70s).

        The field then tightened, but a raw talent, Michael Schumacher, with the arrogance of Senna, which IS the right and necessity of any great driver, and the aggression of, well Senna actually, and the political savvy of Prost, set a new standard.

        Alonso and Hamilton are both outstanding drivers. Kimi has become patchy (sadly). Massa needs to be nursed and wheedled around the circuits by his very brillant race engineer Mr Rob Smedley. Dunno about the rest. Vettel seems fast, but prone to pressure maybe. Niko Rosberg may well be about to do a better job of stepping out from his father’s shadow than Nelsinho did. But here’s the key point. Put them all in the same car. 15 tenths of a second between them around a 5km track.

        Amazing thing.

        1. good post salty, enjoyed your thoughts

    2. Piquet had a whole season as a test driver and then also did pre season testing. Grosjean on the other hand is only in his 3rd race, without the luxury of having tested the car adequately.

      On another note, I hope Piquet can see what his actions are costing the innocent people in that team.

    3. this dramatically underlines that Grosjean is doing no better than Piquet was doing and in this race he is seconds off the pace.

      This is definitely going to be the subject of a post sometime soon…

  11. It is a sobering thought that the FIA might have had to abandon the Piquet enquiry if it were due next week. The crash would have been dismissed as one of his 17 crashes and the villains walked.
    But oh dear LOL

    1. If Flavio were still boss of Renault F1 today, when Grosjean had his spin, do you really think the FIA would not have thought the worse? They had the telemetry which is conclusive, apparently, that it was driver action that caused the crash.

      I think all the ‘doing a Piquet’ comments would have soured the FIA not sweetened.

      Pat Symmonds has held up his hand and apologised for his actions. Guilty as charged then we must suppose.

      Onwards.

  12. Renault name on the F1 car should have been ban for two years…if Renault had any class they would do it old school

    1. I agree with you but I am afraid that when they leav f1 this time it will be for good.

  13. Ya that was crazy for sure… you could even see the Renault mechanics laughing… I’m really hoping for a livery change as well… that 30th anniversary one looked cool… yellow and black… :)

    A moment stood out for me during the 2nd free session that seemed so simple and small but during Rubens slow lap after he clipped the wall they show a front wing camera… you could actually see him moving the adjustable wing plate! I’ve not seen that so far this year and haven’t really heard of anyone talk about it..
    I mean they’ve talked about the adjustable wings but as far as I know haven’t shown it on track… I could be totally out to lunch… lol… but it was neat.. :)

  14. Prisoner Monkeys
    26th September 2009, 3:40

    Finally, Brawn run somehting like an actual livery!

    I hope that whoeverbecomes their sponsor next year doesn’t make them change their colours. Something like this, with the sponsor name on the sidepods would look good. Simple and effective, and still carrying the team identity.

    Also, I noticed the Renault people still have ING on their shirts. But then, I guess it’s difficult to make the shorts without the sponsor on such short notice.

  15. The Renault looks good without the ING livery. I feel bad for them though.

  16. I liked that after grosjeans little mishap the camera cut to bob bell and he had a smile and a little shake of the head .
    grosjean looks like a mop in a racing suit , he’s a quirky looking kid , but for god sake don’t go off tomorrow.

  17. The reporter says “This shows, it was clearly, once and for all not Piquet’s failure, the car takes blame for it.”

  18. Just a little odd bit of news

    Germany’s Sport Bild now reports that mutual team sponsor Santander, keen to make room at Ferrari for Spaniard Alonso, has agreed to pay McLaren 25 million euros if it will give Raikkonen a race seat for 2010.

    I think the cars this year are pretty. They have grown on me and I like Renault livery, just not now it’s too sad with the lack of sponsors :(

  19. ‘OH… its a RENAULT!’ lol. Grosjean already practicing for the race ;) Brawn looks good, virgin stickers grown too. They must be getting more sponsors now they have Mercedes backing.

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