Red Bull Racing pulled the wraps off the future on Thursday night in Detroit, lighting up the Motor City with the first glimpse of its 2026 Formula 1 challenger, the RB22 – and with it, a bold new look to mark a bold new era.
Unveiled on home turf for power unit partner Ford, the show car reveal signalled far more than a paint refresh. This was Red Bull Racing stepping into uncharted territory: a next-generation machine powered by its own in-house technology for the very first time.
After years of evolutionary tweaks to a familiar visual identity, Red Bull has torn up the design playbook.
A Fresh Look for New Era
The RB22 sports a striking blue-and-black colour scheme, highlighted by a lighter shade of blue woven through a distinctive jacquard-style pattern. Just as eye-catching is the return to a glossy finish, ending a long run of matte liveries and ensuring the car will shimmer under the floodlights in 2026.
The car will be raced by four-time world champion Max Verstappen alongside new team-mate Isack Hadjar, as Red Bull embarks on one of the most significant chapters in its 20-year Formula 1 history.
Laurent Mekies, CEO and Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, captured the mood as the covers came off in Detroit.
“Seeing the new livery for the first time is one of those special moments, it starts to make you feel excited about the new season,” he said.
“We are going to look spectacular on track! This is a new and significant era for the sport as a whole and for us as a team. We wanted our livery to reflect this, while also giving a nod to Red Bull Racing’s beginnings.
“This livery is designed to celebrate the spirit of our early days. In the year that an Oracle Red Bull Racing car will run a Red Bull Ford Powertrains PU for the first time, it felt only right to reflect some of our history in our livery."
Powering The Future from Within
Behind the dramatic visuals lies an even bigger story. Following the end of its highly successful partnership with Honda – which has since moved to Aston Martin – Red Bull has taken on the biggest technical challenge it has ever faced: designing and building its own power units from scratch at Red Bull Powertrains.
Ben Hodgkinson, chief of Red Bull Powertrains, described the scale and appeal of the project that now sits at the heart of the RB22.
"I loved the idea of it being a blank sheet of paper, not just the power unit but the whole company, so we could custom build it to what we knew the regulations were going to be, which was a pretty cool opportunity," he said.
©RedBull
The ambition came with daunting realities, particularly the need to rapidly assemble an elite workforce capable of delivering Formula 1 success.
"The gravity of what that meant took a while to really sink in and trying to find what's turned into 700 people in a short space of time has been really challenging," added Hodgkinson.
"If you create a really bold and audacious project it only really attracts bold and audacious people, so those people fit the Red Bull culture absolutely like a glove. It's brilliant for the rate of innovation, so it's been an exciting, pretty intense four years."
As the RB22’s gleaming new livery reflects both heritage and ambition, Red Bull Racing’s Detroit reveal made one thing clear: 2026 isn’t just a regulation reset – it’s a statement of intent.
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