“You Don’t Change the Livery After Winning a Championship?”: Racing Bulls’ Playful Dig at McLaren at F1 75

McLaren’s 2025 car MCL39 heading out of the pits at Silverstone

The F1 75 livery-launch event saved the best for the last as reigning champions McLaren were the last Constructor to reveal their 2025 colors. Naturally, with some of the most appealing paint schemes unveiled by some of the teams, fans were hotly anticipating what the Woking-based team had in store.

But McLaren team principal Andrea Stella dimmed the atmosphere even before the covers were off of the MCL39 as he revealed that the livery had remained majorly unchanged from the 2024 season.

And when the covers did come off, the MCL39 looked like an almost mirror image of its predecessor — decked in the iconic Papaya and Black paint scheme from the season they finally won their first Constructors’ championship since 1998.

Naturally, many fans will be taking a sly dig at the team on social media. But RB beat them to it as they took to their X (formerly Twitter) account to troll the 2024 Constructors’ champions.

Referencing Stella, who said that the decision to not change the livery was to honor their title triumph, the Faenza-based team wrote, “You don’t change the livery after winning a Championship? Does this mean that we can’t change the VCARB 03?”

Truth be told, RB had earned the right to troll other teams at the F1 75 launch event. RB was probably the only team that revealed the most authentic and spiced-up livery for the 2025 season up and down the grid.

The Faenza-based team disclosed a dashing V-CARB 02 — painted in the iconic yellow and red of Red Bull but with a dominating foreground of white.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
McLaren RB Red Bull

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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