Ferrari has added some *blue* to its F1 cars for the Miami GP

Ferrari has revealed the special one-off livery that it will deploy at the Miami Grand Prix this weekend, and the big news is that it’s blue.

Well, not completely blue, but Ferrari has given its famously red cars some 'Azzurro La Plata' and 'Azzurro Dino' accents to celebrate its seventieth year in the North American market and its new title sponsor HP. And yes, that does mean the team is now officially called Scuderia Ferrari HP. Urgh.

Anyway, the two shades of blue will feature on the wings, the engine cover, the halo, the rear-view mirrors, the race numbers and the wheels of the two SF-24s. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will also wear special light blue race suits.

Ferrari says the two blues have been absent for around half a century (other than on a certain 296 GTB press car). The lighter shade is Azzurro La Plata – Argentina’s official race colour in the Fifties and the colour that Italian Alberto Ascari used to wear in every race. In 1952 Ascari took on the Indy 500 in a Ferrari 375 Special with a blue nose, and Ferrari’s F1 drivers and mechanics continued to wear the colour throughout the 60s and early 70s.

The darker shade is Azzurro Dino – a colour favoured by drivers Arturo Merzario and Clay Regazzoni. Regazzoni was the last driver to wear a race suit in Azzurro Dino in 1974 but it would become the colour of Ferrari’s F1 mechanics in the late 1970s and early 80s.

The one-off Miami livery that pairs red and blue also references the cars campaigned under Luigi Chinetti’s N.A.R.T. (North American Racing Team) banner, as well as the 60s sports car racers run by British importer Maranello Concessionaires.

But anyway, that’s enough history for one day. The big news is: it's blue.