Aston Martin, Caterham, Jaguar... when the teams go green!

This Saint Patrick's Day week, here is a (non-exhaustive) list of the teams that have used the green color on their single-seaters, historically reserved for British teams in F1.

Published 18/03/2025 à 16:45

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Aston Martin, Caterham, Jaguar… when the teams go green!

Sauber

In 2024, Sauber – sorry, Stake F1 Team – was the last team to dress their car of green... fluorescent. The Swiss team surprised everyone with a livery that was, to say the least, original, easily identifiable in the middle of the grid (especially at night!). A very unusual green used in reference to the team's two main sponsors, namely the streaming platform KICK and the online casino and sports betting site Stake. In 2025, Sauber kept the green on the front of its single-seater, a slightly less "flashy" green for the greatest pleasure of our eyes...

Aston Martin

Imagine a Aston Martin without a green livery, would it really be a real Aston Martin? The British team essentially represents all the charm of the United Kingdom and this famous color in motorsport, “British Racing Green”. Used for the first time by the Gaydon manufacturer in the 1950s, this typical green was used during Aston Martin's return to Formula 1 in 2021.

Lotus / Caterham

If the Lotus Racing team (2010) / Team Lotus (2011) / Caterham (2012-2014) has not entered the annals for its results (zero points scored between 2010 and 2014…), the small British team will have at less had the honor of bringing a green livery back to Formula 1. Used to the back of the grid, the single-seater designed in Leafield has never really distinguished itself on the track, except for abandoning...

Jaguar

Another green livery, another British manufacturer! Between 2000 and 2004, Jaguar attempted the F1 adventure with a beautiful green, white and red livery in the colors of its main sponsor, the British banking group HSBC. Despite some promising results, Jaguar never exceeded 7th place in the Manufacturers' championship, and was sold at the end of 2004 to the company Red Bull, with the success that we have known since.

Jordan

We continue on the British teams with Jordan and his famous green and blue “SevenUp” livery during his first season in 1991, one of the favorite dresses of Formula 1 fans. It is on board this Jordan 191 that Michael Schumacher made his debut in the discipline during the 1991 Belgian GP. Jordan changed livery several times in the 1990s, until finding his final identity with a yellow covering.

Benetton

Here is the odd one out on this list: Benetton. The Italian team has regularly shown itself with multi-colored liveries, linked to the eponymous clothing brand, but always using a majority of green on its single-seaters, like the fashion company's logo. The Benetton B194, who would win his first world title with Michael Schumacher in 1994, wore a green, blue and white dress.

Lotus

In the 1960s, the green and gold livery of the Lotus team – the real one, this time – was one of the first to enter posterity. Having become inseparable from Colin Chapman's team, these colors shone in Formula 1 with a certain Jim Clark at the wheel, perpetuating the tradition of victorious drivers/teams in the young years of the discipline.

The British teams (Vanwall, Cooper, etc.)

To conclude this beautiful list of green liveries in Formula 1, let's end with an explanation: why British teams traditionally used the famous "British Racing Team" color. We have to go back to the beginning of the last century to find the origin of this very special color in motorsport: in 1902, England hosted the prestigious Gordon Bennett Motor Cup (predecessor of the current Grand Prix) for the first time. Despite the enthusiasm generated by this event, a problem quickly arose: the national speed limit was only 12 miles per hour, a snail's pace even at the time!

The organizers therefore moved the race to Ireland, a country where speed limits did not exist at the time, but where greenery was omnipresent. And according to legend, British drivers painted their cars in homage to the island that hosted the race. British Racing Green was born, and since then, used by many British teams such as Vanwall or Cooper in the 1950s.

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