F1 Pre-season and Liveries

Which Team Looks the Best?

J. Mott

With all the teams having now released their liveries for this year and pre-season testing completed the F1 season is almost here. The teams have now had their chance to see the other cars and how they are performing for the year to come.

Pre-season testing

Pre-season testing is not a reliable way to predict the future results for the season to come. Last season’ pre-season results had Hamilton topping the board with Verstappen in sixth place. However, the actual season saw Hamilton finish sixth with Verstappen winning the Championship. This was just one of the many inconsistencies with last year’s preseason to actual results. However, we can still judge the liveries to see which one looks the best for the year to come. 

Ferrari

Ferrari’s livery has a similar livery to last year with minimal changes, this was however, to be expected as Ferrari has had a similar livery ever since 1961, with the traditional red paint. This has become iconic to the Ferrari brand, with their founder, Enzo Ferrari famously saying “Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red” and Ferrari has lived by this in F1.

Red Bull

The Red Bull livery has not changed from last year at all, with only a new sponsor being the addition of the UK sportswear brand Castore name to the side of the car. 

Mercedes

Mercedes has changed from last year’s silver arrow back to the black car from two years ago. This change has not just been for aesthetics though the change was also due to Mercedes attempting to save weight in any way possible, so the car is not covered in black paint as it was in the past, but instead is raw carbon fibre. 

McLaren

With the same colours as the 2022 livery, this year is looking similar to last year’s, however, the colours are in different spots. This is a small change in the grand scheme of things with the cars being very similar to last year. There is again orange for most of the car with there being a stripe of blue on the side plate, along with black paint running lengthwise along the length of the car.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin also has a similar livery to last year, however this year the front wing has more black on it and the green is a darker shade, other than that the livery looks almost identical to last year.

Alpha Romeo

Alpha Romeo has one of the best livery’s this year with the front and back being red with white paint in-between them. This has a dramatic effect that makes the Alpha look like one of the best livery’s of the year.

Haas

Hass also has an amazing livery, with the car being painted almost all black with a white stripe rimmed with red running from the front wing to the driver’s seat. This looks amazing and hopefully will entail the care that Haas has put into the car this year and hopefully will get good results.

Alpha Tauri

Alpha Tauri has stuck with a similar livery to last year, the dark blue car with their logo in white towards the back. This has been their look ever since they renamed the team from Toro Rosso back in 2020. This look is starting to become synonymous with the Alpha Tauri name and, honestly, is not a bad look. 

Williams

Williams has a similar livery to last year; however, the colours have become more dramatic. The blue is darker and now looks amazing. This car will hopefully help restore Williams back to their winning ways, however there is still a long way to go.

Alpine

Alpine is another team that has stuck with a similar livery to last year, with there being light blue for most of the car, with pink on the sides and the rear wing. This car did well last year and hopefully will challenge for the championship this year instead of there being only Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes fighting it out like it has been for the last few years. 

Comparison

With all the liveries in, there are really two stand outs, the Haas and the Alpha Romeo. These two-look amazing in their own right and both will hopefully lead to a good year for the teams. The Ferrari also looks good with the standard colours, however, these two look the best. The Mercedes also would look great back in black, however the unpainted carbon fibre ruins the look and it would look much better in black paint.