Haas unveil striking ‘cherry blossom’ livery for Japanese GP

Haas have unveiled a special livery for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, the first since the team announced a landmark partnership with Toyota.

Ferrari customers Haas announced a technical partnership with Toyota last year, marking the Japanese manufacturer’s first involvement in F1 since its withdrawal at the end of the 2009 season.

Haas revealed special livery for Japanese GP

The arrival of Toyota has strengthened Haas’s links to Japan following the appointment of Tokyo-born Ayao Komatsu as team principal at the start of 2024.

Haas are celebrating the Japanese GP with a special cherry blossom-style livery to be raced by drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman at Suzuka this weekend.

In a statement provided to PlanetF1.com, Haas said: “To celebrate the official launch of cherry blossom season in Japan, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team is paying homage to the ‘sakura’ with a bespoke livery for the Japanese Grand Prix.

“The popular spring flower motif will feature across the VF-25 and digital assets throughout race week.”

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Haas have had a mixed start to the new season with Ocon and Bearman finishing fifth and eighth respectively in China, hitting back strongly after being the slowest of all at the F1 2025 curtain raiser in Australia.

As exclusively revealed by PlanetF1.com last week, Haas will not be the only team running a one-off livery at Suzuka with Red Bull set to bring back their special white livery for the Japanese Grand Prix in a tribute to engine suppliers Honda.

The F1 2025 season marks the last of Red Bull’s highly successful partnership with Honda, which has powered Max Verstappen to the last four Drivers’ World Championships and the team to consecutive Constructors’ titles in 2022 and 2023.

Red Bull previously competed with a white livery at Turkish Grand Prix during the pandemic-affected 2021 season, with Verstappen and then-team-mate Sergio Perez competing in the colours of the Japanese flag in Istanbul.

The Japanese Grand Prix was originally scheduled to take place on October 10 2021, with Turkey stepping in as its replacement that year after a number of races were cancelled due to the pandemic.

Verstappen revealed his special white-and-red helmet design for the Japanese Grand Prix last week, with Red Bull set to pull the covers off the new-look RB21 in the coming days.

Red Bull dropped further hints over the Japanese GP livery on Monday morning, posting an image featuring a silhouette of the RB21 on a white background on social media.

That post was followed by a short clip of the Red Bull RB21 in its standard F1 2025 race livery driving into a garage painted white.

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