Scuderia Ferrari Unveils Exclusive Livery for the Miami Grand Prix | Paddock Magazine

An exclusive livery for the SF-24 in Florida featuring colours from Ferrari’s past to celebrate the debut of new title partner HP.

Ferrari looks forward to a memorable weekend in Miami, hosting several activities linked to the marque’s tradition and passion for innovation in its seventieth year on the North American market. The Scuderia will be one of the show’s stars over the Floridian weekend, and the cars will sport a special livery celebrating two colours from its past, Azzurro La Plata and Azzurro Dino. These shades of blue were part of daily life in Maranello for many years and are now coming back into play after an absence of around fifty years. The Miami weekend will also provide a fantastic backdrop for HP’s debut as the team’s new title partner.

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Exclusive livery. The most significant change is the recently announced arrival of HP as the title partner for the coming seasons so that from this race, the team will be competing in the Grands Prix under the name of Scuderia Ferrari HP. The partnership extends globally beyond Formula 1, and on the Racing side, it also includes the car that Maya Weug races in Ferrari colours in the F1 Academy, the all-female driver series for the fastest women on the planet, including her Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy colleague, Aurelia Nobels. The HP partnership also supports Maranello’s young driver programme, established in 2009, and the Esports team. The dominant colour of the new title partner’s logo is a perfect fit with the theme chosen by the Maranello marque for the week in Miami, namely the return of the two colours from the past, Azzurro La Plata and Azzurro Dino. For this weekend only, these tones will feature on the two SF-24s. The splashes of colour will be used on the wings, the engine cover, the halo, the rear-view mirrors, the race numbers and, in a nod to the past, on the wheel rims, as was the case back in the Sixties, starting with the 158 F1 with which John Surtees clinched the world championship title in North America, sixty years ago. The Miami livery also evokes memories of the single-seaters and sports cars entered by the American Ferrari importer, Luigi Chinetti, under the NART (North American Racing Team) banner, including those above blue and white 158 F1 driven by Surtees and red Ferraris with dark blue stripes. Blue was also featured in the various Ferraris entered in sports car races in the Sixties by the British importer Maranello Concessionaires.

Team kit. As hinted at recently, on the Sunday of the Grand Prix, Charles and Carlos and almost all team members will be wearing a special team kit, mainly in Azzurro La Plata with flashes of Azzurro Dino, including the race suit, shoes, gloves and helmet. The light blue of Azzurro La Plata was Argentina’s official race colour in the Fifties, similar to the one that Italy’s Alberto Ascari favoured and used regularly in his most successful years on the track. The two-time world champion would always wear a shirt and helmet in this colour as a lucky charm. In 1952, Ascari tackled the Indianapolis 500 Miles in a Ferrari 375 Special, explicitly built for the race, with a blue nose section. In the Sixties, Surtees, Lorenzo Bandini, Ludovico Scarfiotti and Chris Amon wore blue suits, as did Niki Lauda in his first year with the Scuderia. The mechanics and the factory staff also had blue overalls, in keeping with the stereotype of the “blue collar” worker, as opposed to the “white collar” office staff and management.

Clay’s favourite. The other Ferrari colour making a comeback in Miami is Azzurro Dino, a much brighter blue that found favour with several Scuderia drivers, most notably Arturo Merzario and Clay Regazzoni. The latter was the last driver to wear a race suit in this colour in 1974, and gradually, shirts and mechanics overalls also took on this tone before becoming the norm from the Seventies to the early Eighties. As of 1975, various shades of red became the dominant colour on the drivers’ race suits, with white splashes reflecting 1973 sponsorship from Philip Morris International, an agreement still in place today. In Miami, the usual red colour gives way to Azzurro La Plata for the drivers for the whole weekend, while most of the team will wear kit in that colour on Sunday only. Those mechanics involved in the pit stop who need to wear fireproof suits according to the regulations will be decked out in Azzurro Dino.

The other Ferraris. Charles and Carlos will also celebrate these revived Ferrari colours away from the race track. They will each get around in unique Ferrari 296 GTS Assetto Fiorano sports cars, personalised for the extraordinary series of events in the United States. Their custom liveries were created in the Maranello Style Centre, headed up by Chief Design Officer Flavio Manzoni, and the two spiders have also been on show in the International Ferrari Cavalcade in Tennessee and Florida. The drivers will also have Ferrari-style clutch bags specially designed by Creative Director Rocco Iannone. The two 296 GTS will also lead the Ferrari Parade around the circuit on Sunday, followed by Ferrari owners from the Cavalcade, who will enjoy the weekend from the luxurious surroundings of Casa Ferrari alongside the track that runs around the Hard Rock Stadium. Their hosts will be Ferrari ambassador Marc Gene and Scuderia Ferrari HP reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8_6C8msFYk

Special Collections. As always, when the team puts on activations for special Grands Prix, a series of initiatives are taking place in collaboration with team partners and licensees and at the Miami Grand Prix, the inspiration comes from the rediscovered shades of blue, with a range of limited edition items. Puma recently launched the Scuderia Ferrari Miami Limited Edition capsule collection: varsity jackets, replica team wear and Speedcat Pro shoes in Azzurro Dino. Ray-Ban and Scuderia Ferrari are launching the first limited edition Ray-Ban Meta glasses: for this event, the iconic Wayfarer comes in the colours chosen for Miami, featuring Meta’s integrated technology in the glasses, that allows the wearer to listen, make calls, watch video live-streaming videos and capture content, simply by wearing the glasses. Bell also has an activation for the Miami Grand Prix, presenting replica driver helmets in Azzurro La Plata for Charles Leclerc and Azzurro Dino for Carlos Sainz. 

Fred Vasseur Scuderia Ferrari HP Team Principal commented on the exclusive livery:

The upcoming Miami Grand Prix will be remembered in our team’s history. In Florida, we will celebrate our heritage through an exclusive livery, rediscovering two colours that are part of our history. It will also be an extraordinary race as we are glad to welcome the arrival of our new title partner, HP.

Scuderia Ferrari and HP share many values, including a winning mentality and a clear line of thought, forming our partnership’s basis. Our two companies strive for excellence and embrace technological innovation, a critical element in achieving our goals. Like us, HP believes in ensuring everyone in its organisation can give their best, as that’s the only way to get great results. In addition, we believe in the need to nurture talent and teach and empower people, as exemplified by our Driver Academy.

With so many things in common, we believe that HP’s title partnership will significantly benefit both marques, and I can’t wait for us to start working together this weekend.