Ferrari will mark 70 years of the brand in North America with a special blue livery at the upcoming Miami Grand Prix. Two historic shades of blue - Azzurro La Plata and Azzurro Dino - will be used on Ferrari’s SF-24 car which is set to be revealed in Florida in the build up to the Grand Prix.

Azzurro La Plata is a lighter shade of blue that is used as Argentina’s national racing colour. The colour was worn in the past by two-time Formula 1 World Champion Alberto Ascari during his successful years with the Prancing Horse. It was similarly seen on race suits donned by John Surtees, Lorenzo Bandini, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Chris Amon and Niki Lauda.

Azzurro Dino, on the other hand, is a deeper shade of blue and was worn by Clay Regazzoni in 1974, where he convinced the Italian team to sign Lauda as his teammate. Since then, the iconic red - for which Ferrari is most famous - has been used on race suits, with the exception of a few occasion switches to white.

Ferrari ran a white and blue livery for the last two races of the 1964 Formula 1 season while last season’s Las Vegas Grand Prix saw the team switch to a special one-off red and white livery that celebrated its golden age in the 1970s.

This season saw Ferrari enjoy a one-two at the Australian Grand Prix and the Italian team are currently the closest competitors to Red Bull, who continue to dominate the sport.

The Miami Grand Prix takes place on Sunday 5th May.

words: Mike Booth
pictures: Ferrari