Aston Martin considering F1 livery tweak to make green standout more on TV

The Silverstone-based outfit unveiled a new dark green livery for the 2021 season as part of its rebrand to Aston Martin, while it switched title sponsorship from Austrian water company BWT to American technology firm Cognizant. 

Under its previous Racing Point and Force India guise, the team competed in a striking pink livery between 2017-2020 before its latest change of identity to Aston Martin came after Lawrence Stroll became a part-owner and executive chairman of the British luxury car manufacturer last year. 

But Aston Martin’s new livery has, in certain lights, made it difficult to distinguish its cars on TV coverage from other teams running dark colour schemes - most notably Mercedes. 

Aston Martin CEO Otmar Szafnauer admitted there is room for improvement with its green livery and revealed it is looking at ways to make its colour “pop" more on TV to help it avoid looking too similar to rival machinery. 

“The green colour suits us, that's for sure,” Szafnauer said at the Austrian Grand Prix. "It's a stunning colour in the sun and when you're looking at it in person.

"But I believe we should be looking at making it pop a little bit more on television - without losing the green when you're looking at it outside.

"I don't know if we can do that, but that's one thing that we're looking to do, just to make sure that it differentiates itself on TV from some of the other darker cars.”

Ahead of last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, BWT CEO Andreas Weissenbacher told Speedweek that Aston Martin should revert to its pink colours. 

"Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll understands that my heart is bleeding,” he said. “If the Aston Martin were pink, title sponsor Cognizant would also have more fun because the recognition value would be much higher.

"From a business point of view, it was wrong. Historically the British racing green is certainly understandable for many, not for me. The Aston Martin does not stand out on TV.” 

But Szafnauer played down the chances of Aston Martin giving back full branding rights to BWT as Weissenbacher had suggested. 

"With the name of Aston Martin, and Aston Martin being green traditionally, and we're growing the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 team, I would think it will stay green," he stressed. 

"Ferrari is red. Aston Martin is green."