The winner of the Japanese Grand Prix will receive a special trophy in which he can activate his flag appearing by kissing it. Developed by Pininfarina - whose founder Battista Farina was the uncle of the first-ever F1 World Champion Giuseppe Farina - the aluminium design allows the winning driver to bring up his national colours after kissing it. Featuring LED lights, the flag colours will spread from the point of contact to create a 'waving' motion after being programmed once the winner of the 53-lap race at Suzuka is determined. The technology, developed at the behest of the race's title sponsor Lenovo will also be in use at the United States Grand Prix in October, although in both circumstances, only the winning drivers' trophy will feature the kiss activation.
Kiss activated trophies
"It was kind of a back and forth [process] between [Lenovo, Formula 1 and Pirinfarina]," Pirinfarina of America Design Manager IDX Francisco Barboza Grasa told RacingNews365. "There was always the challenge of respecting as much as we could the brand of Formula 1 itself, the heritage of Formula 1. "That's why the shape of the trophies are like the Coca-Cola shape of the cars. We also tried to stay very honest in the materials ised. "The main shell is built with aluminium which is fully recycled. It is a material we think reflects nicely with Formula 1, it is not carbon fibre, but alumnium is used in other places on the car." The other three trophies on the podium will feature 'light cores' reflective of the host country - red for Japan and blue for the United States, with all being powered by rechargeable batteries to ensure the activated patterns do not fade once the trophies are put on display.
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