"Honda cannot miss": IndyCar fans react as Kyle Kirkwood's new livery for Mid-Ohio resembles vintage F1 car

Andretti Global unveiled a new Honda-powered livery for Kyle Kirkwood for the upcoming IndyCar race weekend at Mid-Ohio. The new livery found a lot of love from fans, some of whom also found it to resemble BAR Honda's F1 car from the early 2000s.

The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, which will take place from July 4 to 6, is a special weekend for the Japanese automotive giant. Besides it being the primary sponsor of the event, the race weekend also marks one year since IndyCar introduced the new hybrid unit, which was Honda's ask from the series, at the 2024 Mid-Ohio weekend.

Moreover, Honda is having a picture-perfect 2025 season. It has won all nine races so far, with rival engine manufacturer Chevrolet having won none. Alex Palou has won six of those, and Kyle Kirkwood, the other three.

Kirkwood's new livery departs from the usual white and two shades of blue to white, red and black tones for Mid-Ohio. It drew comparisons to several F1 teams.

One fan highlighted how delightful Honda's white liveries look, be it for Red Bull in F1 or in IndyCar. They wrote:

"Honda cannot miss with white and red liverys this year🙌 first Red Bull in Suzuka and now this."

"Looking sharp! Can’t wait to see this at Mid-Ohio!" another added.

A handful of fans found Kyle Kirkwood's new livery to resemble that of BAR Honda, a team that competed in F1 from 1999 to 2005.

"BAR F1 is back 🔥," wrote one fan.

"Gives off some bar vibes," wrote another.

One fan also made a Mercedes F1 reference in the comments, writing:

"If Mercedes livery were called as silver arrow then it would be fit to called Honda's livery as the white katana 🔥"

Fan reactions to Kyle Kirkwood's new livery for IndyCar Mid-Ohio race | Image via Instagram (@andrettiindy)

Former F1 journalist Will Buxton, who is FOX's official IndyCar commentator this year onwards, also reacted.

"That's a cracking livery," he wrote on X.

In the comments section of his X post, a couple of fans pointed out how the livery also resembles that of Haas F1.

"Had to do a double-take that it wasn’t a Haas, lol," wrote one.

Kirkwood will gun for his fourth victory of the season at Mid-Ohio, with Honda eyeing a perfect 10 out of 10 to start the season.

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What Andretti Global's president said about Honda relationship and Kyle Kirkwood's special livery for Mid-Ohio

Alex Palou with Kyle Kirkwood at the IndyCar XPEL Grand Prix at Road America - Source: Getty

Andretti Global president Jill Gregory spoke about Honda's momentous new livery for Kyle Kirkwood. She emphasized what their partnership, which has been going for over two decades, when the team was called Team Green, means to the team.

"Honda has been a phenomenal partner, and their performance this season speaks for itself," Gregory said via Honda's press release. "We're proud to have played a key role in their dominance so far. Mid-Ohio is a big weekend for both of us, and so we're honored to run a special livery that celebrates everything we've accomplished together. We're looking forward to delivering a result that reflects the strength of this partnership."

Kyle Kirkwood boasts a terrific track record at Mid-Ohio in his junior career. He won nine straight races during his time in junior Formula from 2017 to 2021.