Red Bull abandon plan for special liveries at two races in order to save weight · RaceFans

Red Bull has abandoned its plan to run a special livery at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix because doing so would have increased the weight of its RB20.

The team launched its ‘Rebl Custms’ livery competition in April, inviting fans to craft special designs for its car based on a series of pre-defined templates. The first fan creation appeared during the British Grand Prix weekend.

Further special designs were due to appear at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix and next month’s United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. However the team has now confirmed this will not go ahead in order to avoid adding further weight to their car.

Max Verstappen qualified fourth for the British Grand Prix in the custom-liveried RB20, 0.3 seconds off pole-winner George Russell. He finished the race second to Lewis Hamilton in the other Mercedes.

Red Bull have suffered a sharp decline in performance compared to their rivals since the start of the season. Having won seven of the first 10 grands prix they have not won any of the last seven rounds. McLaren overtook them at the top of the constructors’ championship standings last weekend in Azerbaijan and Lando Norris has cut Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ championship to 59 points.

The team’s first car design to meet F1’s overhauled technical regulations in 2022 was overweight. A successful weight reduction programme that year transformed the RB19 into a dominant machine.

Red Bull retained clear superiority over the field during 2023 when it won all bar one of the 22 rounds. It introduced its custom livery competition that season and won the three races where the special designs appeared.

Mercedes will run a special livery at this weekend’s race but has not indicated whether doing so would add any weight to the W15. Ferrari, McLaren, RB and Alpine have also run one-off livery designs during the course of the season.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free