F1 News: Austin GP Brings Back Lenovo Kiss-Activated Trophies

Max Verstappen might have to kiss again.

If you thought F1 was done with the kiss-activated trophy in Japan, you might be wrong. The kiss-activated trophy is all set to make a comeback this weekend in Austin for the United States Grand Prix. 

The trophy is indeed special because it is equipped with a kiss-activated feature that highlights the country flag of the Grand Prix winner when he kisses it on the designated spot. Last time in Japan, the trophy displayed the colors of the Dutch flag after race winner Max Verstappen kissed it. 

Covered with LED lights throughout, the flag colors will spread across the trophy from the point of contact in a waving motion, which will be programmed once the winner of the race is determined at the end of the Grand Prix.

Red Bull Press Image

The rechargeable trophy sports an aluminium design, worked upon by a partnership between Lenovo and Pininfarina- a company working its way to build the world's first pure-electric hyper GT car.

Only the winning trophy will feature the kiss-activated feature whereas the runner-up trophy will feature light cores that will highlight the colors of the host country which, for this weekend will be blue.

Pininfarina of America Design Manager IDX Francisco Barboza Grasa told RacingNews365 while revealing the design of the new trophies:

"It was kind of a back and forth [process] between [Lenovo, Formula 1 and Pirinfarina].

"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 used.

"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."

While Verstappen already got his kiss-activated trophy for winning the Japanese Grand Prix, would he receive another one in Austin this weekend? Or would it be one of the boys from the Papaya team?