Pirelli's best-looking Red Bull cars
1. Kimi Raikkonen, Citroen C4 WRC, 2009.
Surely one of the most handsome rally cars ever to grace the world's stages? After Kimi and Ferrari split “by mutual agreement” at the end of 2009 – just two years after the Finn had delivered Ferrari's last world title – he decided to pursue his childhood dream by going rallying, with the help of Red Bull and the Citroen Junior Team (where his team mate at the time was Sebastien Ogier, now a four-time world champion). Kimi had massive natural speed but struggled a bit more with the pace notes; the highlights of his first WRC season were fifth overall on Rally Turkey, and one fastest stage time on Rally Deutschland.
2. Alex Lynn, GP3, 2014
British driver Alex Lynn scored a mammoth 207 GP3 points en route to a dominant title in 2014, after winning three races and finishing on the podium a further four times, driving for Carlin Racing. At the time, he was part of Red Bull's Junior Team, and as such earned the right to race in the distinctive blue and yellow livery. That season would turn out to be his last one with Red Bull though: he went on to become Williams Development Driver in Formula 1, and is now racing in sports cars – having won at Sebring this year and set LMP2 pole position at Le Mans.
3. Pierre Gasly, GP2, 2016
Gasly is one of the latest Red Bull protégés to emerge through the ranks, having dominated last year's GP2 season at the wheel of a Red Bull-sponsored Prema Powerteam car. After a unlucky run, it finally came good for Gasly in the second half of the season, when he clinched four victories. As a result, the talented 21-year-old Frenchman's career is now back on track, and he's been asked to do a lot of F1 testing for Red Bull, while competing in Japan's Super Formula to stay match fit. He's also strongly tipped to be the next Red Bull young driver to make it into Formula 1, potentially as early as this year, if the rumours of certain seat swaps turn out to be true. Watch this space.
4. Maserati MC12, FIA GT, 2004
There's a savage beauty to the best GT cars, and Maserati's MC12 is one of the prettiest of the lot, especially when resplendent in its Red Bull livery. It's also a car that was developed from scratch entirely in tandem with the Pirelli tyres that it raced on, with Pirelli's current head of car racing Mario Isola in charge of the tyre development programme at the time. Having won six teams' championships, two manufacturers' championships and six drivers' championships all over the world, the MC12 also featured in Red Bull livery driven by Andrea Bertolini and Austria's Karl Wendlinger.
5. Sergio Sette Camara, Formula 3, Macau 2016
It's hard to make a Formula 3 car look attractive – only its mother would truly love it – but Red Bull somehow managed to pull off the impossible, with the corporate colours flattering the somewhat bulbous shape of the F3 chassis. Sette Camara took his Carlin car to third at the Macau Grand Prix last year – Pirelli's first season of supplying the prestigious Far Eastern event – having led the race until the safety car came out. The Brazilian is another future star tipped for an F1 seat in the near future: he's already tested for Toro Rosso.
6. Ferrari 550 Maranello, FIA GT, 2002
We've saved Pirelli's best-looking Red Bull car for last. The sleek lines of the Ferrari 550 Maranello form the perfect backdrop to the Red Bull livery, in a lighter shade of blue than we are usually used to seeing, reminiscent of this year's Toro Rosso colours. Here's one (rare) context where Ferrari and Red Bull are partners rather than rivals. The 550 successfully raced in a variety of GT championships, including the main FIA GT Series, in the hands of Luca Riccitelli, and – unsurprisingly – another Austrian: Dieter Quester.
