Renault Sport has just debuted their distinctive yellow-gold and black colors during an event in Melbourne, thus confirming recent reports about their final livery being influenced by the RS01 race car.

Guests first got to see the RS16 while it literally surfed the waves at Boat Harbour Park beach just outside of Sydney, which is why Australian pro surfer Ellie-Jean Coffey was also present alongside drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer.

In order to perform the stunt, the car had to be attached to a 7.5m long board using bespoke harnesses before being towed out into the Pacific Ocean where it was set free to catch its first-ever waves.

Once back on dry land, Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul stated “We had a new livery to unveil in Melbourne, but we wanted to do things a little differently. We’re in F1 to ultimately get lots of points on track, but also to get lots of attention off track, so we came up with this idea. To our knowledge it’s the first time an F1 car has ever surfed! It fits with the Australian theme, but moreover it aligns us with the spirit of adventure we see in the latest range of Renault products such as the Captur and Kadjar.”

As for the livery itself, black and yellow are naturally the corporate colors of ‘Renault Sport’, but also share some on-track heritage – the first ever F1 car built by Renault (RS01) hit the track in yellow and black back in 1977, which is why this latest livery is a nod to that original car.

Abiteboul further detailed the new RS16 by saying that they’ve used “metallic colors that will reflect the lights at the night races, the ‘diamond’ pattern at the rear of the car fits in with our new brand identity and the gold flashes signify we aim for the top.”

Once the car makes its official race debut on Sunday, it will mark the first time in 6 years that a predominantly yellow & black Renault F1 car has been on the grid.

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