Bleu de France (, "Blue of France") is a

colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...

traditionally used to represent

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Blue has been used in the

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

of the

French monarchy France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

since at least the 12th century, with the golden '' fleurs-de-lis'' of the kings always set on a blue (heraldic "'' azure''") background. A brighter version, based on the blue of the French Tricolour, is used in modern times, particularly in a sporting context. French national teams in all sports will normally use blue as their main colour. Blue is France's national racing colour; therefore, several French motorsport teams have used it, including Alpine,

Amilcar The Amilcar was a French automobile manufactured from 1921 to 1940. History Foundation and location Amilcar was founded in July 1921 by Joseph Lamy and Emile Akar. The name "Amilcar" was an imperfect anagram of the partners' names. The busine ...

Ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th cent ...

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...

, Delage,

Delahaye Delahaye was a family-owned automobile manufacturing company, founded by Émile Delahaye in 1894 in Tours, France. Manufacturing was moved to Paris following incorporation in 1898 with two marriage-related brothers-in-law, George Morane and Le ...

Gordini Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies (Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and Car tuning, performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer) ...

, Ligier, Mathis,

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, defence industry, def ...

Panhard Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks#Military vehicles, Re ...

Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Sport was a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France, and founded in February 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo and his friend and partner, French publisher François Granet. They raced in the Le Mans Series and the 24 ...

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

Prost Grand Prix Prost Grand Prix was a Formula One racing team owned and managed by four-time Formula One world champion Alain Prost. The team participated in five seasons from 1997 to 2001. The team was the last France, French Formula One team based in France, ...

, Rondeau,

Salmson Salmson is a French engineering company. Initially a pump manufacturer, it turned to automobile and aeroplane manufacturing in the 20th century, returning to pump manufacturing in the 1960s, and re-expanded to a number of products and services ...

Talbot-Lago Talbot-Lago was a French automobile manufacturer based in Suresnes, Hauts de Seine, outside Paris. The company was owned and managed by Antonio Lago, an Italian engineer that acquired rights to the Talbot brand name after the demise of Darracq ...

, and Voisin. The two notable exceptions are

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

and

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

: the former has used red and white, whereas the latter has used yellow and black. Between the and seasons

F1 cars wore a blue colour not as the national racing colour of France but due to the team's title sponsor the Japanese cigarette brand Mild Seven. Blue de France appeared on the Enstone team's car again for the 2021 season, when the team rebranded to Alpine F1 Team, continuing the Alpine marque's association with the colour across motorsport. Since a country is represented in the motorsport through a team and not through a constructor, French privateer teams entering cars built by constructors from another country before the season painted cars in the ''bleu de France'' blue, e.g. the French Guy Ligier's privateer team entered cars painted in ''bleu de France'' blue in and seasons despite the fact that they were built by the British constructor Cooper. "French blue" has also been in use by the

Massachusetts State Police The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for law enforcement and vehicle regulation across the state. As of 2024, it has 2,500 sworn troop ...

, in uniform and livery, since June 1933, to render troopers immediately recognizable to the public. Since 1944 it has also been in use by

Delaware State Police The Delaware State Police (DSP) is a division of the Delaware Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security and is responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the US State of Delaware, especially in areas underserved by loc ...

on their uniforms.

Race cars in ''Bleu de France''

File:Bugatti Typ 35C Grand Prix Racer 1926.jpg,

Typ 35C Grand Prix Racer (1926) File:Delage D6.jpg, Delage D6 File:Delahaye 135 MS, Bj. 1935-36 (1978-08), D. v. d. Lof.jpg,

135 MS (1935) File:Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Prix 1949 blue v TCE.jpg,

T26 Grand Prix (1949) File:CD Panhard LM64 (1964).jpg, CD Panhard LM64 (1964) File:Matra MS10 2008 Goodwood.jpg,

MS10 (1968) File:Alpine Renault.jpg, Alpine A110 File:Rondeau M382.jpg, Rondeau M382 File:Ligier JS11 2008 Goodwood.jpg, Ligier JS11-15 (1980) File:Alesi 2001.jpg, Prost AP04 F1 (2001) File:Pescarolo 16 Side.jpg,

16 (2008) File:Peugeot 908 Nr1 Spa 2010.JPG, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP File:Fernando Alonso, F1 British Grand Prix 2021.jpg, Alpine A521 (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleu De France (Colour) National symbols of France Shades of azure Shades of blue Bird colours

Race cars in ''Bleu de France''

See also

References