Reactions to the launch of the Mercedes W13 fell into two distinct camps. Rushed? It does look that way, as though BWT barged into Enstone and called shotgun on the wings and sidepods, making a mess and leaving the red of Mapfre looking very out of place.Īnd the Racing Point tribute car for the start of the season? The less said about that, the better. The arrival of BWT as title sponsor came with the potential for a fun bubblegum-style blur of blue and pink, but a clue to where this livery fell down may be found in the fact the deal was announced just 10 days before launch. We’re in a world where creativity can be stifled by the needs of a team and their partners. Well, Alpine did – and look what’s happened. Whenever an F1 team launches an underwhelming paint job their social media mentions quickly fill with fans asking why oh why they don’t just let one of the photoshop whizzes behind the popular fantasy liveries do the job.
The result is a livery that’s mean, moody and quite possibly coming to the end of its shelf life. The title sponsorship arrangement with Oracle is worth an eye-watering sum of money (a reported £100million a year over five seasons) but the tech company’s presence on the sidepods, replacing the much-needed flash of brightness previously provided by the large Red Bull lettering, looks like an eyesore.
The matte Red Bull livery is among the most iconic of the modern era but, having been a fixture on the car since 2016, is it starting to look tired? The problem with Red Bull’s alternative liveries over recent years – the various camouflage launch looks and the all-white Honda tribute – is that people tend to take their standard colours for granted. The masters of the testing livery have missed the mark for the real thing. The red has gradually grown in prominence in recent years and now has too much influence on a C42 livery seemingly designed to direct eyes straight to the white sidepods and specifically the stickers of title sponsor Orlen – and don’t get us started on that scrawl on the engine cover. If there is one team who should have stuck with exactly what they had, though, it is Alfa Romeo, whose fusion of crimson and white – Italian passion meeting Swiss precision – peaked with the smart and sophisticated 2021 car. The ‘corporate colours’ argument is fine but does pose a problem when it’s impossible to tell one season from the next (seriously, try and spot the difference between the Mercedes cars of 2015/16). In a perfect world F1 liveries would be like football kits, with largely the same fundamental ideas tweaked from year to year. Here’s how we rank all 10 liveries: 10: Alfa Romeo With new regulations in place, this year’s breed are generally a good-looking bunch but, as with all things, some teams have done a better job than others. The February fashion show in Formula 1 concluded last Sunday as Alfa Romeo became the final team to formally launch their new car for the 2022 season.
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