Ferrari unveil Schumacher tribute livery for Monza home race

Ferrari will celebrate Michael Schumacher's legacy with a special, one-off Formula 1 car livery for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the team revealed on Tuesday.

The revised paint scheme is part of a broader program to mark 30 years since Schumacher joined the Scuderia. Schumacher won five of his seven world championships racing for Ferrari between 1996 and 2006, becoming the most successful driver in the team's history. In his debut season in red, he delivered Ferrari's first Italian GP victory at Monza since 1988.

A livery inspired by 1996

In honor of Schumacher, Ferrari will run a livery inspired by its 1996 car design this weekend, featuring retro car numbers, white wings, and a red engine cover and cockpit to replace the usual white. Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton's cars will carry Schumacher's personal logo, along with seven white stars — one for each of his titles — on the nose. The drivers will also wear special race suits, gloves and shoes for the event.

The tribute is the latest in a now-established Monza tradition. Ferrari first embraced a one-off home-race look in 2022 — one year after F1 informally relaxed its rules around special liveries — adding yellow splashes to its cars and kit in 2022 and 2023, black driver kit in 2024, and a Niki Lauda homage in 2025 to mark 50 years since the Austrian's first title. The 2026 design recalls Schumacher's famous 1996 Italian GP win in front of the tifosi during his first Monza appearance for Ferrari, when the clean-livery car with gold-colored wheels belied a troublesome machine that still delivered two further wins that year.

Cars on display and former teammates return

Ferrari will also celebrate Schumacher by putting three of his cars on display at Monza: the F310 from his 1996 debut season, the 248 F1 from his final Ferrari campaign in 2006, and the F2002, which delivered one of his greatest championship seasons. His former teammate Rubens Barrichello, who raced alongside Schumacher in all five of his title-winning years at Ferrari and won at Monza in the F2002, will perform a show run in that car on Saturday. Sebastian Vettel, who drove for Ferrari from 2015 to 2020 and regarded Schumacher as a hero, will take the F2002 for a demonstration lap on Sunday ahead of the race.

Schumacher had planned to return to Ferrari in 2009 as a mid-season replacement for the injured Felipe Massa, only for a neck issue to prevent the reunion. He returned to full-time racing with Mercedes in 2010 and made his final grand prix start at the end of 2012. His tally of seven world championships has since been matched by Hamilton, who joined Ferrari at the start of 2025 and remains the only driver to surpass Schumacher's 91 grand prix wins.

Schumacher has not been seen publicly since sustaining severe head injuries in a skiing accident in December 2013, with his family maintaining strict privacy over his condition. His son, Mick Schumacher, became Formula 2 champion in 2020, raced two seasons in F1 with Haas, and has competed in IndyCar in the United States since 2026.