What if Purple Bull solved its second-car downside with a paint job?

The saga surrounding Yuki Tsunoda’s promotion and Liam Lawson’s demotion to Racing Bulls is thus: for years now, round and thru Max Verstappen’s a number of world titles, Purple Bull has been a one-car Components 1 squad.

Since Daniel Ricciardo’s exit from the height of his F1 profession in 2018, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez and now Lawson have tried and failed to deal with driving a automobile principally organized to swimsuit the uber-pointy front-end desire of Max Verstappen throughout the Purple Bull storage. That’s by way of two totally different design guidelines eras.

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Resplendent in one-off white, Tsunoda will begin his try to keep away from becoming a member of that checklist at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

However, from the seriousness of Perez’s lack of ability to match Verstappen’s factors hauls in 2021 and 2024 costing Purple Bull two constructors’ championships, a wry statement from inside the F1 paddock final day out on the Chinese language GP hinted there may be a fast repair for Christian Horner’s squad.

Given Verstappen was suggesting in Shanghai that the Racing Bulls automobile is “simpler to drive than ours”, then why wouldn’t an answer be to color a VCARB 02 to run within the chosen colors of the second Purple Bull?

Liam Lawson, Purple Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Workforce

Photograph by: Purple Bull Content material Pool

The upsides for Purple Bull can be clear.

It may think about fettling the RB21 to maintain giving Verstappen the sturdy entrance finish he needs however cut back the confidence-sapping rear finish snaps that even his prodigious expertise can’t tame after they randomly strike.

On the similar time, whoever is deigned to be Verstappen’s team-mate on any given weekend – he’s about to have a 3rd in simply 4 grands prix, since Abu Dhabi final yr – would get to drive the extra compliant Racing Bulls package deal, with its barely greater journey peak normally making it simpler to drive.

There’s even historic F1 examples of groups fielding very totally different automobile specs – from the low- and high-downforce Purple Bull RB20 packages Perez and Verstappen had been respectively working finally yr’s Hungarian GP, to McLaren getting into its common M7A automobiles (organized in three totally different specs) in addition to the one-off four-wheel drive M9A on the 1969 British GP.

Clearly, this being the relentlessly actual fashionable world, Purple Bull’s F1 rivals would object to such a gambit because the championship has lengthy moved on from this being allowed.

They’d have the authorized foundation to cease this plan in its tracks (which doesn’t cease it being an intriguing dialogue in a sphere as intricate and engaging as motorsport).

The principle rule such an try would fall afoul of is Article 17.3 (and its many sub-categories) of F1’s technical rules, which covers “Listed Workforce Parts” (LTC). This limits groups to including particular elements (together with all aerodynamic surfaces) to their automobiles for in-competition use that they’ve designed themselves.

Then there may be additionally rule Article 17.5 on Transferable Parts (TRC), which covers elements that groups can construct after which promote to others.

That is significantly pertinent to the Purple Bull/Racing Bulls scenario given they share many mechanical elements – together with suspension for each entrance and rear axles, plus gearboxes.

Max Verstappen, Purple Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Workforce

Photograph by: Purple Bull Content material Pool

F1’s technical guidelines additionally embody Commonplace Provide Parts (SSC) and Open Supply Parts (OSC) elements provide that cowl particular (and usually not performance-influencing) parts of automobiles which might be outsourced in manufacturing phrases to suppliers. This may embody different squads.

Though such guidelines have been tweaked over time – primarily round Haas’s arrival as an F1 competitor utilizing as many listed elements produced by Ferrari as permitted again in 2016 – Purple Bull is definitely the primary purpose why guidelines that ban buyer automobiles exist within the first place.

Since late 2005, Purple Bull has owned each its eponymous squad and its many-named junior workforce, which led to the complicated outlawing of two groups working near-identical designs again in 2010.

As a kicker, F1’s guidelines (Article 17.2.4 and 17.2.6 of the 2025 technical rules) even prohibit Purple Bull transferring employees between its two squads to share any concepts.

And Purple Bull couldn’t even use footage, scans or video footage to copy Racing Bulls’s compliant package deal for one automobile – it must deplete its personal assets conducting the analysis behind such designs.

In the associated fee cap period, that’s tougher than ever and, actually, a headache Purple Bull may do with out because it continues its self-set job of offering Verstappen with a automobile to swimsuit his genius wants that doesn’t destroy the probabilities of his team-mate. And, proper now, that doesn’t even add as much as the quickest automobile for only one Purple Bull driver…